


Not Yours

by TaylorKing



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mild Language, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-11 10:45:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 63,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3324674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaylorKing/pseuds/TaylorKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding out she's pregnant post Season 3 finale, Regina sets off to raise her soul mate's child alone…but that's much harder than it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did not put any heavy warnings on this story, but it does give descriptions of sexual intercourse between two consenting adults in three of its chapters. If you are opposed to sexual activities between men and women and descriptions of these actions, please find yourself something else to read.

Regina was not surprised when Snow walked into her office. She had been expecting it for some time now, and was more surprised it had taken this long.   
She’d been sick for at least a month now. That was obvious. She was pale, with dark circles the color of her hair rimming both eyes. Sometimes, just thinking about the smell of certain foods made her nauseous. Eating most anything was almost completely out of the question.  
At first, she’d thought it was stress. The events with Zelena, coupled with Robin, had finally caught up with her. It was to be expected that she would have suffered some sort physical symptom. But a day had become two, and then become a week, which had turned into two. Now she was sure it was some sort of super bug, one of those ones the news always talked about getting worse and mutating. Eventually, it would pass. It had to.   
“You don’t look good, but you don’t look surprised to see me.” Snow said, sitting down on the other side of her desk. Regina rubbed her temples, attempting to lessen the headache that was pulsing behind them.   
“I figured that Henry had mentioned I’d been ill.” Snow nodded. Her look was a combination of concern and curiosity.   
“How long has it been?” Regina could feel her taking in her appearance.   
“A few weeks…a month.” She shrugged, glancing up to meet Snow’s eyes. “Why do you care anyway?”   
“Because Henry’s concerned about his mother…and because technically you’re my stepmother.” She muttered the last part as an afterthought. “And I thought I might have the best chance of getting you to talk to me.”   
She was right. Regina would have thrown Emma out-no questions. The two of them had managed to be civil for Henry’s sake, but civil was a chore. Anger seemed to have been set at simmer just under her skin since that night at Granny’s. There were times it threatened to boil over, and Regina found herself biting her tongue to keep from screaming at, or cursing, her son’s biological mother. It was why she’d taken to keeping mostly to herself, avoiding as many of the general Storybrooke population as possible.   
“Have you seen a doctor?” Snow was asking. Regina shook her head no.   
“It’s some sort of stomach bug. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything substantial in a week.” Not that she was hungry. Just thinking of the concept made her stomach roll. Snow was silent for a moment. Then a look of realization hit her features.   
“Regina….?”   
“What?”   
“Did you and Robin…?” Snow let her words trail off, her eyes finishing the question.   
“I’m really not having this conversation with you.” Regina leaned back in her desk chair.   
“No, it’s not-. Could you be…pregnant?”   
The realization swept her in a wave. How had she not considered this possibility? Yes, actually, she could be pregnant. But replaying any part of her all be it brief relationship with Robin was hard, especially the one and only time they’d been intimate. She’d put it to the back of her mind, not imagining that something might have come out of it.   
“You could be. You might be pregnant.” The shock on Snow White’s face was almost amusing. “Regina, you need to find out. You have to take a test.”   
She did have to do something-and she had to do it right now. But actually going and buying a pregnancy test was out of the question. As soon as someone saw her with it, the rumors would fly all over town in under an hour. No, that was not an option.   
“I’m not taking a test.” Regina got up from her desk and grabbed her purse. Snow gave her a frustrated sigh.   
“Regina, you have to know.”   
“I said I wasn’t taking a test, not that I wasn’t going to find out.” Regina called over her shoulder. 

 

The look on Dr. Whale’s face was even more priceless than Snow’s.   
“You think you might be pregnant?” He repeated, his pen frozen over the note pad in his other hand.   
Regina nodded as calmly as she could. Her brain wanted to scream at him.  
“I think it’s very possible. I’m sick all the time, I can’t eat. I’m exhausted.” Now his look changed to acceptance.   
“That does sound like one possible cause. Do you remember the date of your last period?”   
She had no idea. With everything else that had happened, she’d forgotten about noticing them.   
“I don’t know.” Whale handed her a calendar. Regina flipped through it for a few months, running a few mental calculations. She pointed to a Saturday in February. “There.”   
Dr. Whale took the calendar back from her, looking at the date.   
“Well, you’re either pregnant or there is something wrong.”   
“Thank you for that comforting thought.” Regina glared at him. He held out his hand apologetically.   
“We’ll run a pregnancy test and get some blood work. If you are, the blood work will confirm it. If you’re not, the blood work will give us an indication of what else it could be.” 

 

A half an hour later, she as back in the exam room, running a hand lightly over her stomach. If she was pregnant, she felt no indication of another life growing in her. So maybe she wasn’t, or was it too early? And if she wasn’t, what was wrong? She’d never thought much about pregnancy because actually getting pregnant had never been an option. And the last time she’d had sex, pregnancy had never crossed her mind. It certainly hadn’t crossed his. Contraception wasn’t big in the Enchanted Forest.   
Dr. Whale entered the room, breaking her thoughts.   
“Well?” He appeared momentarily speechless, apparently considering how to word his next statement.   
“Congratulations?”   
“I am?” The sound of her voice was all wrong. It had softened too much. It was too sweet, too happy.   
“You are.”   
“How far?”   
“About four and a half months, going off of the date you gave me. If you want, we can schedule you later for some further testing and get an exact time frame.”   
“So it’ll be due….January?”   
“About there. Mid to late I’d say.”   
Regina closed her eyes. She was pregnant. With her own baby. One that no other mother could take away, one that she wouldn’t have to share. Except of course for-.   
She put Robin back out of her mind. She made up her mind right here, right now, that she was not telling him. Out of the whole mess, he had gotten his happy ending. And while this wasn’t the happy ending she’d been expecting, it was one she would gladly take.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This is one of those chapters that describes a man and a woman having sex. It is not graphic or intense, but if you do not like reading about these types of things…go find yourself something else to read.

Regina let herself into the house with her head swimming. She’d already texted the Charmings to bring Henry home, but she knew there was still time.  
There were so many thoughts, decisions, plans. Boy? Girl? Find out? Wait? If you didn’t find out, how to decorate the nursery? Just pick some random theme and leave it to chance? She shuddered at the thought.  
Regina leaned against the living room doorway and closed her eyes. It hadn’t been the ideal way to conceive a child, but it had happened.

He was kissing her, his hands sweeping over her. Things were progressing rapidly. Her brain was trying to decide if it was right, if now was right, if they should-.  
One hand was unzipping the back of her dress, dragging it down her shoulder.  
“Are you sure?” She broke the kiss to whisper. “Now? We could wait until tonight.”  
The zipper was almost completely down.  
“I’ve waited long enough.” He told her as he slid the dress down her arms. “Besides, this way we’ll both have something to remind us what we’ll be coming home to.”  
Regina gave in, sealed her mouth over his. His hand went into her bra, pulling it down, freeing one breast. Regina shifted, pushed the strap down her shoulder, reached back and unhooked it. Robin’s lips left hers to latch over her left nipple. She closed her eyes, groaning as she held his head against her. Robin shoved the garment away and turned his attention to the opposite breast. He repeated his action while all the time kneading the left.  
“You’re beautiful.” He raised his lips to press soft kisses against her throat. His breath was warm on her skin.  
“You’re not so bad either.” She smiled softly, reaching over to undo the buttons on his shirt. He shrugged it off, closed his eyes as her hands caressed his chest. But when her hand slid towards his belt buckle, he intercepted it.  
“Wait.” He leaned in and kissed her lips gently.  
“I thought we just talked about not waiting.” He eased her onto her back, pulling her dress down her over her hips. Regina kicked her shoes off and he removed the dress entirely.  
“Just a little longer.” He shifted his weight fully on top of her. His hand was caressing her hip, her upper thigh. She could feel his hardness pressed against her through the remaining fabric between then. Then he slid his hand over her stomach to the silky fabric of her underwear. She had to have drawn a breath she didn’t remember taking because Robin chuckled.  
“Do you want me to?”  
“Yes.” She pressed against him.  
He didn’t need further encouragement. His hand went under the fabric, stroked the heat and wetness he found beneath. His tongue slid into her mouth in the same moment his finger slid into her. She moaned against him, pressing her hips against his hand.  
He stopped, hooked his fingers under the waistband of her underwear and pulled them fully away. This time, Regina pushed him off of her. She unbuckled his belt. The button and zipper came undone. She pulled them open, reached inside and freed his length. He closed his eyes, pressed his face into her shoulder.  
“Now.” He whispered, pushing her to lie back again before pulling away to remove his remaining attire.  
He was intentionally distracting her with kisses when she felt the tip of him just inside of her. Regina groaned and Robin pulled his head back to study her face as he pushed slowly into her.  
“Yes?” He was all the way inside, remaining perfectly still. Regina savored the feeling, knowing there was no way she could ever reclaim the sensation of their first time.  
“Perfect.” She pushed up against him and they both moaned.  
She clung to him as he began a slow, steady rhythm. Her nails dug into his shoulders. Her eyes closed. He was groaning softly in her ear. His fingers drifted between them. Stroked. Rubbed. It made her cry out and tighten her fingers into his hair.  
The sensations built, and built, until Regina thought she would explode. Her vision blurred, muscles tightened around him. She vaguely remembered hearing him cry out as he came, pushing himself deeper into her. 

It had all seemed so ordinary. Not the sex itself, that had been incredible, but the fact that it had been the normal sexual routines that had happened before with no results. This time, something had changed. Somehow inside of her had clicked.  
Regina turned to the mirror in the entryway and studied her reflection. She didn’t think she looked pregnant. Her clothes fit as they normally did. But was she missing something? Was there something there she should have caught a month before?  
The front door clicked open, and Henry let himself in followed by both Charmings.  
“Mom!”  
“Hi sweetheart.” She leaned down and kissed the top of his head as he embraced her and stepped back. He studied her, looking her over.  
“You’re not as pale. Do you feel better?”  
“I do, actually. I went to the doctor’s this afternoon, and he said it will pass on its own.” She looked over at Snow. Her eyebrows raised questioningly. Regina tapped Henry’s shoulder.  
“I left some laundry upstairs for you. Run up and put it away?”  
“Sure.” When he was up the stairs, and successfully in his room, Regina motioned the Charmings to follow her into the kitchen.  
“So you are?” Snow asked. Her voice held a note of someone who was trying to hide excitement under unnatural calm. Regina was already annoyed.  
“I am.” She leaned against the counter. “About four months.”  
“That’s wonderful!” And Snow was hugging her briefly before stepping back, her face lighting up.  
“That is good news.” David looked a combination of surprised and pleased, but less enthusiastic than his wife. “Yours will be just a little younger than Neal.”  
She hadn’t thought about that. She wasn’t sure how she felt about her child growing up playing with Snow White and Prince Charming’s son. The concept would take some getting used to.  
“I suppose so.” Regina nodded. Her head was still spinning. “There’s just so much to think about right now. “  
“Don’t push yourself.” David warned her. “There’s plenty of time. But just to confirm, Robin is the-.”  
“David!” Snow stared at him. Regina waved her hand.  
“It’s fine. Yes, it’s his. But he doesn’t need to know that.”  
There was silence in the kitchen for a moment.  
“I kind of think he does.” David finally countered. Snow closed her eyes and shook her head.  
“Listen to me,” Regina told them both, “this is my child, and I’m going to do this my way. Robin has a family of his own. He does not need this….complicating things.”  
David looked like he wanted to argue. Snow stepped in more quickly.  
“We won’t say a word. Will we?” David glanced from Regina, to Snow, and finally nodded.  
“No, we won’t.”  
“And do me a favor and make sure your daughter doesn’t either.” The anger boiled over momentarily and Regina calmed it down. There were more important things to think about now. But the fact that her baby didn’t have a father because of Emma made it rise again.  
“We’ll tell her. You don’t have to worry about that.” Snow told her. “When are you going to tell Henry?”  
“Tonight, over dinner. There’s no point in waiting. He’s old enough to know.”  
“I think he’ll be excited.” Snow smiled. “He loves Neal, and he’s good with him. I think he’ll be a lot of help.”  
Regina smiled at the thought. Henry would do well with his little sibling. However, the baby would have another brother it would never know. The thought saddened her. Roland was such a sweet little boy. But he’d never know, never have any knowledge of his sibling. 

 

“I need to talk to you about something.” Regina was seated across the table from Henry. A pizza box was open on the table between them. A small slice was on the plate in front of her, untouched. It wasn’t as much the smell as it was the thought of the grease that was turning her stomach.  
Henry stopped eating and looked suspicious.  
“Is this about my mom?”  
“No, no. This isn’t about her at all.” She touched his hand gently and he relaxed. Smiled.  
“Oh. So what’s up?”  
“Well,” Regina began carefully, “how would you like to have a little brother or sister?”  
“Are you thinking of adopting again?” Henry asked. Regina smiled.  
“No, not adopting.” Henry thought for a moment, and then looked surprised.  
“Are you pregnant?”  
“Yes. That’s why I’ve been so sick.” He was silent for a moment, scooped a bit of cheese up with his fork.  
“I think that’s cool.”  
“Really?” Regina pushed her plate away. She’d try again later with something else. If she was judging this by foods the baby didn’t like, it would apparently never eat. “It doesn’t bother you?”  
“No, I really think it’s cool. It’ll be fun. Will it be here for Christmas?” Regina shook her head.  
“It will miss Christmas by a little while.”  
“Are you going to find out what it is?”  
“I haven’t decided yet.” He really was excited. It was a relief. But he was old enough not to get too jealous.  
“Which bedroom does it get?”  
“We’ll have to look at that, won’t we? Maybe after dinner?” He nodded. “Henry, I’m glad you’re excited about this.” Henry smiled.  
“Remember when you told me a few months ago that some day I’d have more family than I knew what to do with?” Regina smiled and rested her chin in her hand.  
“Yes.”  
“You were right: two moms, grandparents, a new uncle, and now a little brother or sister. It’s definitely cool.”


	3. Chapter 3

2 months later-

 

Regina spent most of her nights dreaming about holding her baby. Some nights it was a boy, others it was a girl. Some nights it had a name she would never consider in a thousand years; some nights she woke up willing herself to remember that name because it was better than anything that ever came to her awake.   
She’d flipped through dream journals. Some said it was a dream of a new beginning, or a new start. Others said it was just a pregnant woman’s anticipation. To Regina, it was both.   
She’d reached the point where if people didn’t know she was pregnant, her appearance made them question whether she was or was not. Most of the time, they asked. But she watched more than a few walk away with an extremely perplexed look on their faces.   
It was a surprising twist that most of the Storybrooke residents were all right when they did find out. Regina suspected it was because they knew how complicated the situation actually was. No one ever questioned who the father was, because they knew. Everyone did. There was no point in dredging up the past. Nonetheless, she was pleased when people congratulated her, asked when she was due, and the other basic questions.  
Did she know the gender? (She did not.)   
Did she want to? (She did not.)  
Either way, had she decided on a name? (She had not.)   
Had she picked a nursery theme? (She had not.)   
“Girl.” Granny told her, as she was sitting at the counter one morning waiting on coffee to brew. Regina raised her eyebrows questioningly.   
“Girl?”   
“You’re carrying like it’s a girl. And they say girls steal your beauty, and you’ve looked exhausted for the last four months.”   
Regina rolled her eyes.   
“Thanks. I think. Is the coffee done yet?”   
“In a minute. It takes time to brew fresh decaf.”   
“You know I don’t drink decaf.” Granny shrugged and turned back towards the kitchen.   
“You do for the next three months.”   
Regina rested her chin in her hand while idly passing the fingers of her right hand over her stomach. The baby wasn’t moving. Of course it was sleeping now. She had nothing to do at the moment. If she tried to do anything with any importance, like sleep, it would be out of control.   
Granny put the to go cup on the counter in front of her. Regina immediately noticed that the older woman was watching over Regina’s shoulder. Curiosity got the best of her, and Regina turned to see just what it was that was so interesting.   
Robin and Little John had just walked in.   
Regina groaned almost involuntarily. She’d seen Robin around town the last few months, of course. But this was the first time he’d really be able to see that she was pregnant. Her dress was a faux wrap maternity style, meant to emphasize the belly. There was no mistaking it.   
There was no way to avoid him. She was certainly not going to stay here for the risk Marian would decide to join him. Robin finding out in public was one thing, Marian figuring it out was entirely another. They’d both undoubtedly heard the rumors, no need to lay the proof completely out on the table.  
Regina ignored him as she crossed to the door-save for watching out of the corner of one eye. Little John had a look of confusion on his face. Robin’s was wide-eyed shock. 

She didn’t have to wait long to find out when he’d turn up. He showed up at her office within an hour. As he pushed the door open, Regina glanced up over the coffee she hadn’t yet finished.   
“It’s called knocking. I know they don’t do it in the forest, but we try it here in civilization.”   
“Is there something you want to tell me?” He ignored her statement and stared at her. Regina shook her head.   
“I can’t think of anything.”   
“You’re pregnant!”   
“Congratulations. You figured it out like everyone else in town.”   
“Do you think I haven’t figured out its mine?” Robin’s eyes went from her, to her belly. Regina felt like her heart was twisting. She wanted nothing more than to tell him, to have him celebrate with her. But admitting it would do nothing but create another problem. Regina was certain Marian would be less than thrilled that her husband was expecting a baby with the Evil Queen.   
And for that matter, Regina didn’t want her baby to have another family. If her baby was going to have an ideal one, she wanted only Robin, Henry, and Roland. Stepmothers need not apply. Regina was dead set that she and Henry would be the only family this child needed.  
“I don’t know what you think you figured out, but you’re wrong.” Regina crossed her hands over her stomach. The baby was awake now. It was distracting to her. The raised voices had it responding.   
“Do you think I don’t know you well enough to know that you, of all people, would never jump into bed with someone let alone accidently get pregnant?”  
Regina bit her tongue. That was rather what had happened, but she thought the person she’d gone to bed with was going to be with her forever.  
“You know nothing about me.” Regina responded, keeping her tone from shaking while holding his eyes. She done a lot of lying and intimidating in the Enchanted Forest, but this was the hardest she’d ever done.  
“I think I do. When are you due?”  
“That’s none of your business.”  
“It’s none of my business, or you don’t want me to do the calculations and figure out when the baby was conceived?”   
Regina flipped the notebook on her desk closed. She was determined not to give. Robin had his family. She just wanted one thing that wasn’t owed to someone else, that someone else wasn’t always trying to take from her.   
“Listen to me very carefully,” she held his eyes. “This baby is not yours. I am not yours. This entire situation is none of your business, and you should not be here right now. I doubt your wife would be pleased to find you alone with an unmarried pregnant woman.”   
Robin’s jaw tensed and his hands clenched. She wished things could be different. Wished she could go back in time and change what had happened. If Marian was still dead, they wouldn’t be here now. This conversation wouldn’t be taking place.   
Two happy endings destroyed. Good job, Emma Swan.   
She expected Robin to keep fighting, keep arguing with her. Did she want him to? She wouldn’t let herself answer that, for fear of what the answer might turn out to be.  
Instead he took a deep breath, turned towards the door, and then turned back to her.   
“This isn’t fair, Regina. This isn’t fair at all.”   
And then he was crossing the room and gone, closing the door behind him. 

That night, Regina was sitting in the den staring at her computer screen. She was accomplishing absolutely nothing. Her thoughts kept drifting back to her morning conversation with Robin.   
One of her hands almost always rested instinctively on her belly. Under her palm, the baby moved. Regina rubbed it gently   
“I’m tired, so get it out of your system now.” Another movement, but much slower than it had been all day. Clearly it had worn itself out.   
“Mom?” Henry appeared in the doorway. “Are you busy?”   
“Not at all.” Regina closed her computer screen, smiled. “What is it?”  
He entered the room, coming to lean against the side of her desk. He was wearing a serious Henry expression. Regina was curious. Knowing him, that could mean a deep conversation was in store.   
“Did you not tell Robin Hood about the baby?” Regina sighed heavily. And there was the deep conversation.  
“Who did you hear talking about this?” Henry looked slightly sheepish.   
“Grandma. Grandpa. Mom.”   
“Of course.” Regina rolled her eyes. She was going to have to remind the entire Charming family what was appropriate conversation when a 12 year old was nearby.   
“They thought I was in the shower. Mom and Grandpa think he has a right to know, Grandma says they should stay out of it.”   
“Mary Margaret is right.” Regina told him. “And I’m not having this conversation with you.”   
“But Mom-.” Regina turned the computer back on.   
“Henry. No. We’re not discussing this.”   
“Ok, fine.” He shrugged and started towards the doorway. When he reached it, he paused. “But Mom-.”   
“Henry.”   
“Just one thing-I grew up not knowing who my dad was. It was hard. I just don’t want that for my little brother.” Regina looked up, smiled.   
“Your little brother?”   
“Well, it could be, right?”   
“Do you want a little brother?” Henry had apparently put thought into it.   
“I wouldn’t mind it. Little sisters take a lot of effort. They need protecting basically forever.” Regina chuckled. It was good to see him already taking so much interest. But he was old enough-almost a teenager. And he was such a family centric boy already.   
“You get that we’re passed the point of getting a choice, right?”  
“Mom, I know how all that works.” Henry gave her a look of momentary horror, and then disappeared into the hallway. She heard his footsteps going upstairs.  
Regina began skimming through nursery images on the computer. She still wasn’t getting anything done. Only this time, her mind began drifting back to her conversation with Henry.  
Was he right? Did she need to tell this baby so that it didn’t resent her in fifteen years? Regina knew that even with the best of intentions, this child may not receive them that way. She could not possibly handle the rebellion of another child, have another child who was seeking out another family. What if she held back the information, and her child grew up to seek out Robin on it’s own? What if he or she decided they preferred Robin and Marian to her?   
Regina shuddered at the thought. She was getting herself worked up for no reason. The baby wasn’t even born yet, so there was no reason to panic over how it would act in fifteen years.   
“Are you asleep?” Regina passed her knuckles against her abdomen. “You go to bed entirely too early.” She sighed, looking down at how pregnant she was beginning to look. “What do you think? Do we need to tell your daddy?”   
Telling was one thing, seeing was another. She felt obligated to tell Robin, but she still didn’t want him in this child’s life. 

 

The next morning, Regina made her way through the park and the woods to where Robin’s camp was located. One of the men glanced up, called to Robin, nodded in her direction. He put down what he’d been carrying and made his way over to her.   
“Well, this is a surprise.”   
“Can we talk?”   
“I think we need to.” Robin nodded back the way she’d come, towards town. “Is it…safe for you to be out here in your…condition?”  
“Please, I’m fine. The baby isn’t due for a few more months.”   
They walked a little ways away from camp. The birds were chirping around them. Regina had woken up nauseous but felt better in the fresh air.   
“So,” she stopped, turned to face him, “you were not wrong yesterday. This….is…your baby.” Robin chuckled softly.   
“I knew that.”   
“Of course you did.” Regina sighed. “Look, I’m only here because I had a conversation with Henry last night, and he told me how hard it was for him not knowing who his real family was. You have a family to think about. This was never supposed to happen.”   
“But it did happen.” Robin looked her over. “It did happen. You can’t just expect me to ignore it.”   
“Yes I do.” Regina held his eyes intently. “I do want you to just ignore it. Focus on your life with Marian, and Roland. Just leave us,” she ran her hand over her belly, “alone.”   
Robin closed his eyes. Regina watched his jaw muscles tighten and relax.   
“You want me to just ignore you, and my child, every time I see you in town?” Regina nodded.   
“Yes. That’s exactly what I want. Robin please, don’t make this harder on both of us.”   
“Is this what you really want?” Robin asked her gently. His eyes were the man she’d fallen in love with, and they were breaking her heart.   
“No.” Regina whispered, shaking her head. Tears threatened to fill her eyes and she blinked them back. “What I want, I can’t have. This is the next best thing.”   
“So what am I supposed to do? Be content to only see my child at town functions?”   
“Yes,” Regina sighed heavily, “I’m sorry, Robin. But that’s the closest you can come to this child.  
“Regina, you know how much I love my son. How can you expect me to not feel that way about my next son? Or my daughter for that matter?”   
Regina stared at him. She wanted him to see her own pain, the grief this was bringing her. This was all so wrong. Entirely wrong.   
It must have worked, because Robin took a deep breath. Let it out slowly.   
“Fine. If this is truly how you want it…..”   
“How would Marian want it? Or Roland?” That seemed to do the trick. A look of acceptance settled onto his face. He still didn’t look pleased, but he at least appeared to have accepted things as they were.   
“Is everything ok? I mean, you’re healthy, it’s healthy?”   
“Everything’s fine.” Regina assured him.   
“And you don’t know what it is?”   
“No idea. And I don’t intend to find out.” She laughed. “I take it that your men know?”   
“Yeah, they do.” Robin nodded, glancing in the direction of the camp. “Marian knows nothing. She knows nothing happened between us.”   
That hurt. But what had Regina expected? In truth, it was better that way. Her eyes wandered towards the camp again.   
“You should be getting back.”   
“You’re right, I should.” Robin agreed, his gaze following hers. “Marian’s out with Roland now, but…. Regina, if you need anything-. If something happens, and you need protection, if the baby needs protection, do not hesitate to find me.”   
“I won’t.” She promised. It was all she could do. He’d been such a help battling against Zelena. It had crossed her mind many times if she’d been pregnant then, she surely would have lost her baby.  
“Good. Good.” Robin’s eyes drifted back towards the camp.   
“Go.” Regina jerked her head towards it.   
“All right.” Robin looked at her for a long moment. His expression was unreadable. Her mouth twitched in half a smile, and then she turned and started back the way she’d come.   
Halfway there, the baby woke up. Regina smiled and laid her hand over it. For a moment, she thought about attempting to cast her own time travel spell, to go back and fix everything. But then she reminded herself that dangerous magic not only affected her, but the baby as well.   
No, there would be no more dangerous magic for her for a long, long time.


	4. Chapter 4

3 months later-

She’d woken up with the first contraction around 5A.M. For a moment, Regina just lay in bed wondering what exactly she should do. One contraction didn’t mean labor. If it did, it didn’t mean immediate labor. It was her first child, it would take awhile.   
When nothing else happened in an hour, Regina gave up waiting and got up.   
She’d read about nesting. About some of the things women did as they got closer to giving birth, but she didn’t realize she was doing it until she caught herself pulling glasses out of the kitchen cabinets and washing them by hand.   
Snow and Charming had been stopping in once a day to check on her. Snow was convinced that Regina was stubborn enough to have her baby at home, alone, just because she refused to call them for help.   
“How are you?” Snow asked as she entered the foyer.   
“Actually…” The look on Regina’s face made the other woman stop. “I think I might be in labor.”   
“What makes you think that?” Regina did not have a history of being a hypochondriac, so if she was suspecting it enough to mention it then it was probably happening.   
“I’ve been having contractions on and off for most of the day and…they’re getting more and more regular.”   
“Did your water break?”   
“No. If it had, don’t you think I would have known I was in labor?”   
“Ok, Regina, I’m not fighting with you over this. You’re going to the hospital.”   
The more frightening concern was that Regina didn’t argue with either of them. Both had been expecting more of a fight when this time came. But Regina merely got her things, and let David drive her car. In the front seat, she simply stared out the window, one hand pressed against her abdomen.   
“So this is it?” Regina asked. She was half terrified, half anxious. She couldn’t decide which one was winning out.   
“This is it.” Dr. Whale told her. “Hopefully your water will break on its own, if not, we’ll do it.” Regina shuddered. “Don’t worry, it’s very simple.”   
They didn’t have to worry about it. Her water broke half an hour later one its own.   
Regina had been set on doing this on her own-completely. Snow had offered-multiple times-to stay with her through the whole delivery, but Regina insisted.   
“My offer still stands.” Snow had sent David away, but was still sitting beside the bed. The contractions were getting closer and closer together. “You don’t have to do this alone.”   
“I know I don’t, but I want to.” Regina’s eyes followed another contraction on the monitor. “Hell.” She closed her eyes, breathing deeply through the pain. “I have no idea how you did this-twice-through the threat of impending danger.”   
“It wasn’t easy, either time.” Snow laid her hand on Regina’s arm. She rubbed gently until the contraction passed.   
“If I had anything else on my mind right now, I think I’d give up and it could stay right where it was.” Regina fell back on the bed, closed her eyes.   
“That’s not an option-which is good and bad. Regina, are you sure you don’t want me to stay? Labor is one thing, actually giving birth is another and it can be…scary.”   
“I’ll be fine.” Regina wrapped her arm over her stomach, looking at the monitor. “Damn.” Snow followed her eyes, nodded, and got up.   
“I’m going to get Dr. Whale. I think you’re almost ready.”   
“I hope so.” Regina hissed, biting her lower lip as the contraction passed. “Mm, is it too late for a caesarean?”   
“Only if you or the baby is in distress.” Dr. Whale was checking her vital signs.  
“Regina, last chance.” Snow stood in the doorway. “I’ll stay with you. Just say the word.”   
“No,” Regina shook her head adamantly. “I’m doing this-.” She broke off into gasp as another contraction hit.   
“Ok, if you’re not staying, you’re going to have to go, Mary Margaret.” Dr. Whale motioned to the nurse who had just entered. “Close the door and we’ll get started.”  
“Good luck, Regina.” Snow waved from the doorway as the door closed.   
Regina shut her eyes as Dr. Whale exchanged a few murmured words. She hoped she was ready for this. Actually being in labor made her doubt everything. But she could do this; she’d had an infant before. This one was just different because she was giving actually going to be with it from second one.   
This was her own, and now that she was moments away from laying eyes on her son or daughter, she was terrified.   
“Ok, Regina, next contraction I want you to push.” Regina opened her eyes, glued them to the monitor, watched the contraction come.   
She wanted her baby-now.   
She pushed until Dr. Whale’s voice cut her off.   
“Ok, that’s good. We’re getting there.”   
“That’s it?!” Regina gasped, swiping her hair off of her forehead. “That wasn’t enough?”   
“It’s not that easy, but it won’t be long. Ok, another one coming on.”   
Twelve hours of labor was making her exhausted. She had hoped it would be over quickly: one, two pushes and baby. But it seemed to drag on longer and longer than she’d planned. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was pain, or maybe it was just her natural impatience.   
“Regina, this is it. One more and we’ll be done.”   
“I swear you’ve been saying that for the last hour.” Regina groaned.   
This time he was right. Regina looked up abruptly when her own cry of pain was cut off by a baby’s wail. Her eyes went immediately to the screaming infant Whale was holding.   
“What is it? Is it all right?” Tears were threatening to break from her eyes. The baby-her baby-was crying. She wanted it in her arms, quieting it, soothing it.   
“It’s a girl, Regina.” Dr. Whale held the baby up. “And she’s just fine.”   
A girl. A daughter. Her daughter. Regina vowed in that moment that she was going to be a better mother to her daughter than she’d ever had. No pressure, no threats. Her daughter could do, or be, whatever she wanted. Marry whomever she wanted. None of it mattered as long as her daughter was happy, and knew how much her mother loved her.   
“Give her to me.” Regina whispered. “Please.”   
The nurse was wrapping a white blanket around the baby. Then she was passing her to Regina. The tears that had threatened to fall fell freely. She could barely see her in through them.   
“Hi darling.” Regina cradled the warm, crying body closer to her. “It’s all right, don’t cry. There’s absolutely nothing for you to cry about.”   
The baby was still whimpering softly when the nurse laid her hand on Regina’s shoulder.   
“We need to take her for a little while, get you both cleaned up and situated. Then you can have her back for as long as you like.”   
“Do we have to?” Regina didn’t take her eyes from her daughter’s face. She barely taken in a feature of the little girl, merely swallowed her essence whole. She hadn’t had time to examine her the way she wanted.   
“Unfortunately so,” Dr. Whale agreed. “We have to get everything taken care of medically.”   
Tears of a different type started when the baby left her arms. It made it worse because the baby started to cry anew.   
“No.” Regina murmured. “Please no.” Sobs threatened to over take her and she just wanted the baby back in her arms.   
“She’s fine. She’ll be fine.” Dr. Whale made an attempt to reassure her. But Regina barely heard him, barely heard anything else that happened in the room. Her daughter had been here, and was gone now, and Regina couldn’t handle the fact that someone else was taking care of her. 

 

Regina woke up to an oddly quiet room. Sometime after they’d taken the baby, exhaustion had caught up with her. She didn’t remember when exactly her eyes had fallen shut, just remembered the heavy exhaustion that had suddenly enveloped her.   
Now, she sat up. Stabbing pain eased her back onto the bed. For a moment, Regina stared at nothing, willing her body to participate. Taking a few deep breaths, she decided the pain wasn’t so bad, more of a surprise. She supposed it was to be expected. But at the moment, there were more important things to worry about.   
Her fingers found the call button, pressed it. It didn’t take long for the white clad nurse to appear in the doorway.   
“Did you sleep well?”   
“I supposed.” Regina tried sitting up more slowly this time. “How long was I asleep?”   
“About two hours. It’s after 9:30.”   
“And my daughter?” The word sounded strange on her tongue. After twelve years of only having a son, this was going to take some getting used to.   
“She is beautiful. I’ll go get her. I’m sure you’re anxious to see her.” Regina nodded.   
“More than you know.” The nurse gave her a bright smile as she left the room. Regina closed her eyes, pressed her hands against her face. She was still tired. Sleep could wait, the baby could not.   
“Regina? You up for some company?” David’s voice. Regina moved her heads to see the couple standing in the doorway. She wasn’t sure she was in the mood for this. Regardless, she shrugged and motioned them in.   
“How do you feel?” Snow asked, moving immediately to the side of the bed.   
“Decent. I guess it could be worse.”   
Snow may or may not have said something, because Regina didn’t hear anything. The nurse entered the doorway, and Regina’s eyes fixed on the white blanket in her arms.   
“Here she is.” Regina barely realized she was reaching for the bundle, until the little girl was in her arms.   
The world stopped moving in that instant. Regina hadn’t had a chance to look at her daughter before. Now she could see the baby was absolutely breathtaking.   
Her eyes were closed, so there was no judging a potential eye color. Her face was tiny, with delicate cheekbones and a tiny slope of a nose. She had a perfect pink rosebud of a mouth, all set off against creamy skin.   
Carefully, Regina drew the blanket down a bit revealing tiny hands, each with five perfect fingers topped with nearly microscopic fingernails.   
“She’s exquisite.” Regina breathed.   
“Regina, she’s beautiful.” Snow leaned over the baby. Regina nodded. No words could come. Tears were threatening to close her throat. Her fingers pushed the small white hat on the baby’s head back. There were faint wisps of dark hair scattered over it.   
Perfect. Absolutely every single detail was perfect. Regina had never imagined having her own child, let alone one like this.   
Snow was saying something. Regina shook herself out of her fog and looked at the other woman.   
“What?”   
“Her name. What’s her name?”   
Ah yes. The name. The name. The name. The name. Two things had been an issue the entire pregnancy: the name and the nursery. The nursery had eventually solved its own problem. Regina had left it black and white, to later be accented with pink or blue appropriately. Problem solved. The name continued to be the one thing which remained elusive. She’d come up with no solid names for either gender. Now she had a girl, and no clear name decisions.   
In recent weeks, she’d toyed with Cora. She had thought that by naming her daughter after her mother, she might be able dismiss some of the negativity associated with her mother’s memory. She’d tried calling the baby Cora, thinking of her daughter as Cora, but the only thing it had accomplished was bringing up painful memories of both her mother, and Zelena. Cora had ended up on the “Absolutely Not” list-directly after Zelena and Emma.   
Fortunately ruling out Zelena had also ruled out similar sounding names-Selena, Marlena. Likewise, Emma had ruled out its own similarities-Emily, Emiline. Unfortunately, it left too many good possibilities remaining. The list had gradually gotten shorter, but there was no clear frontrunner.  
Now Regina had to decide on a name. She trusted her instincts. Whatever name she’d fully decided on, she’d know it when she said it.   
“Katherine.” Regina said. As soon as she heard it, she knew that was it. Wholly. Completely. No doubt. Perfect child, perfect name. “Katherine Rose Mills. Kate.”   
“I think that’s lovely.” Snow stroked the baby’s arm with one finger. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Katherine.” When Regina looked at her, Snow explained. “If her mother’s the queen in the Enchanted Forest, that would make her a princess.”   
True, and second to the throne after Henry. Regina left that point out. It wasn’t worth making the argument now. And if Regina had anything to say about it, neither of her children would set foot in the Enchanted Forest.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention this story is completed. It's just a matter of getting it all posted on here.

Regina had adored Henry. There was no doubt of that. She still adored him with everything in her. But life with a daughter was different, completely different. Regina suspected that if she had had another boy, it would have been easy to slip into a second child syndrome. That was impossible with a little girl. Everything was too new, and too different.   
The black and white nursery quickly became accented with hot pink details. That was in addition to the tiny pink dresses, sleepers, quilts and stuffed animals that filled the closets and shelves. It was a chic paradise for a little girl.   
With the Charmings’ blessing, Mr. Gold gave her the unicorn mobile from his shop. Regina frowned as soon as it was in the house.   
“It doesn’t go with her room. There’s too much blue in it.”   
“Oh, that doesn’t matter.” Gold was pacing around beside the crib, which was making Regina’s skin crawl anyway. “It will catch the light.”  
“Look, you delivered the gift. You don’t need to hang it.”   
“Sure I do.” Gold waved his hand, the mobile suspended over the crib. Regina visibly cringed. Tiny glass unicorns were now dancing over the crib, catching sunlight as it flickered in from the windows. Any other mobile would have been adorable. Not this one.   
“It doesn’t need to be over the crib. It’ll scare her.”   
“She loves it.” Gold was leaning over the crib, smiling at the infant. “It’s perfect.” He walked passed her, patting her shoulder. “Congratulations again, Regina.”   
When she heard the front door shut, Regina waved her hand, broke the spell, and removed the mobile. The Charmings had had the best of intentions; Gold did not. He was tormenting her with the fact that the mobile had been meant for Emma’s nursery.   
“So sorry about that, darling.” Regina leaned against the edge of the crib, stroking her daughter’s cheek. “He will never bother you again. And neither will this.” She motioned to the mobile in her hand, and it disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.   
As she looked over the little girl, Regina took in again just how much her daughter looked like Robin. She had his eyes, and one look at her face told that she was his daughter. Regina believed that with the exception of her dark hair, Katherine had inherited nothing from her mother.   
Henry adored his little sister. He’d begun helping with her immediately-and an extra set of hands was a huge asset. He didn’t mind holding her when she cried, or even changing her. Regina was impressed.   
“What are you doing?” Regina asked. She had entered the nursery to find Henry holding Katherine and a book on his lap.   
“Just reading to her.”   
“What are you reading?” As if she couldn’t tell just from a glance at the book. Henry smiled.   
“I thought she should know where she comes from.”   
“Don’t you think it will be a bit difficult? Growing up knowing your mother was the Evil Queen?” He shrugged, shook his head.   
“I figured it out and I’m ok.”   
The most shocking part of the first month was that Robin made no attempt to contact her. Regina was surprised. She couldn’t decide if she was also a bit hurt. But she’d made it clear what she wanted, and was getting it.   
Or so she thought.   
The night she figured it out, it was late. It was well after midnight. Katherine ate at midnight, 4AM, and 8AM. Regina decided that was an entirely reasonable schedule. Staying up until midnight, with another solid four hours of sleep wasn’t a bad deal for a single parent of a newborn.   
The doctor had already assured her that once Katherine gained some weight, the midnight feeding would be the first to go. That was disappointing. The midnight feeding was her favorite. At midnight, Regina was awake enough to enjoy her daughter. At four, both mother and daughter were half asleep. Katherine was awake enough to eat her fill, and then fall back asleep. Regina wasn’t even awake enough to enjoy the sleeping baby. She sadly found that she could nurse without being fully conscious. It was disappointing. It was something she wanted to remember every detail of.   
Katherine had fallen asleep against her mother’s shoulder, one tiny fist tangled in Regina’s dark hair. Regina herself was dozing. She knew it was time to put Katherine to bed and get some sleep. But still, she sat, taking in her sleeping daughter, listening to her breathing, feeling her warm comforting weight.   
Finally, she eased out of the rocking chair and paused for a moment. The baby stirred for a moment before settling again. Katherine was a snuggler. She would have slept every night on her mother if she could. Regina wouldn’t have minded. But the risk always came when it was time to put her down.   
She laid the baby down in the crib. Gently, she stroked Katherine’s cheek as the baby settled into her bed. Regina flipped the light pink blanket over her.   
“Good night, Kat. I’ll see you in a few hours.”   
Damn it, Kat again. It just followed so easily from her tongue. Regina had sworn she’d never call her daughter “Kat”. But it had been coming more and more easily.   
As Regina turned to leave the room, something outside caught her eye. A figure was moving on the street beneath the circle of the street lamp. Regina made out the line of the bow on his back. She could tell Robin’s profile from here with or without it.   
What exactly was he doing outside of her house at this hour?  
This was curious. How often did he come? There was no law against walking the street outside of someone’s house. But it was curious that he’d be here. Shouldn’t he have been home…in bed with his wife…checking on his own son?   
Regina almost left the house; almost went out to ask him. But she held back. There was no need to call it out.  
Not yet, at least. 

 

It was the following Saturday that things had begun to escalate. Regina hadn’t wanted to go out anyway. Henry had been pestering her to join him, Emma and the Charmings for lunch at Granny’s. Regina had no interest. She’d searched for an excuse, but there wasn’t a good one. And the truth wasn’t helping. Henry wasn’t buying “I don’t want to go.” So she’d packed up Katherine, and gone.   
Regina decided her second mistake of the day was sitting facing the door. Katherine was asleep in her carrier on the chair between Regina and Snow. She’d shown no interest in the entire event. She’d barely stirred since they’d entered. Regina hoped this didn’t mean she wouldn’t sleep later.   
They were mostly through the meal, which had been awkward but not entirely bad. Neal was old enough he needed constant attention, which kept most of the family occupied and kept little conversation flowing between the adults. Regina didn’t like talking to Emma about anything, but when the other woman was expressing an interest in her daughter, it was hard to turn away the subject. Talking about her daughter was in her top two favorite topics. So as long as they only discussed Henry or Katherine, the two were mostly civil.  
Regina naturally glanced up when she heard the door open, so did Snow. Both women reacted in a manner that caused their three companions to turn and look as well.   
Robin, Marian and Roland had all entered the diner. Snow glanced over at Regina. Regina caught her eye, but remained focused on not drawing attention to herself.   
That seemed destined to be impossible, as Robin’s eyes seemed to go immediately to their corner. She watched as his eyes flicked from her, to the carrier beside her.   
Regina frowned. He couldn’t actually see Katherine from where he stood, but she preferred not to take any chances. Reaching down to her bag, she grabbed the blanket on top. Granny had made it for her and given it to her today-white crochet with purple flowers. Unfolding it, Regina flicked it over the top of the carrier, blocking the baby from the room.   
“Really Regina?” Snow gave her a disproving look.   
“What? I don’t want her to be cold.”   
“She wasn’t cold five minutes ago.” Charming added.   
“Although I did notice it getting colder in here.” Emma was looking over her shoulder at the other group.   
“Would you drop it?” Regina hissed. “This,” she motioned to the carrier, “is none of his business.”   
“I kind of think it is.” Charming looked over at her, but Snow reached for his hand and shook her head.   
“He agreed to this.” Regina looked around the table. “He agreed it was best.”   
No one responded. Regina suspected they were all thinking what she didn’t say: that he’d only agreed because she’d insisted. Given him no other option.   
They continued back to their meal in silence, broken up only by Neal’s babbling. They were almost ready to leave, when Regina heard the faint whimperings of Katherine waking.   
“No, Katherine-.” Regina looked at the blanket-covered carrier. She sighed heavily. “Not now, anytime but now.”   
But the whimpering became more and more steady. Regina knew her daughter well enough to know it would only escalate into full blown wailing if she didn’t intervene. Frowning, she flipped back the blanket, unsnapped the baby, and scooped her up.   
“It’s all right, darling.” Regina murmured, kissing the baby’s cheek. “No tears, Kat.”   
“I thought we weren’t supposed to call her Kat.” The statement startled Henry out of the video game he’d held on his lap. He gave Regina an amused smile.   
“It just-.” Regina’s eyes were on Robin, who was pretending not to look at her. “It just flows sometimes, ok?”   
“So I can call her Kat?” Henry was more amused with this than she liked. Regina rolled her eyes at him.   
“You may call her Kat. That rule does not apply to anyone else at this table.” She gave them all a warning look.   
“That’s all right, Neal likes Katie better anyway.” Snow leaned over to kiss Katherine’s forehead. Regina held her tongue. She had enough other issues to argue than the ridiculous idea that Katherine and Neal were meant to be playmates because of their nearness in age.   
They were ready to leave. Except Regina. She was still holding Katherine. Putting Katherine down meant she was going to leave. Which meant passing Robin. Which meant passing Marian.   
“Regina, coming?” Charming was standing in front of her, looking doubtful.   
“Mom?” Henry appeared at her side. Regina looked at him, drew some fresh strength.   
“Yes.” She rebundled Katherine, tucked a pink fleece blanket over her, and draped the carrier with the crochet blanket for good measure. Then she got up, put on her own coat, and picked up Katherine’s bag.   
She had made it to the counter, was letting Henry handle her check as well as Emma’s, when she heard his voice behind her.   
“You’ll excuse me, your Majesty, but your daughter is absolutely beautiful.”   
Don’t react. Just be polite.   
Regina pulled herself together and spun to face him.   
“Thank you. I think she’s wonderful.” Robin gave her a forced smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. Behind him, Marian was watching her with a combination of fear and politeness. Regina held back her glaring frown. It was the first time she’d really come face to face with the other woman in some time, and it made her blood boil anew.   
Katherine. Katherine. Just get Katherine home.   
“May I ask,” Robin was speaking again, “what is her name?”   
He didn’t know?! No one in this town-which gossiped over everything-had mentioned the baby’s name to him?! Everyone knew the baby’s name! How had it not gotten back to him?! Or was this some sort of ploy to make her feel worse?   
No, the look on his face-and in his eyes-indicated he really didn’t know. He’d avoided it. Managed to, somehow. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to know. Maybe he’d made sure no one mentioned it to him.   
But curiosity killed the cat in the long run.   
“Katherine.” Regina brought out her most polite smile. “Katherine Rose Mills.”   
Again, the smile that didn’t meet his eyes.   
“It’s lovely. Absolutely lovely. Congratulations.” And then he turned and returned to Marian and Roland, as he always did, as he always would.   
Outside, Regina tucked Katherine into the backseat of her car. Henry slipped in beside her, leaned into kiss Katherine before he kissed Regina and ran off with Emma. He’d be home later. Today, it was fine. Regina wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up on the couch and cuddle with Katherine for the rest of the gray afternoon.   
“Regina, you don’t look so good.” Snow was behind her, but Regina didn’t bother to turn around.   
“Why is it that if I’m doing the right thing for everyone….why do I feel so terrible?”


	6. Chapter 6

It was almost midnight. Henry had gone upstairs to bed not long ago. Regina knew he wasn’t sleeping. She could hear the music of either a video game or the television drifting down the stairs. It didn’t much matter on a Saturday night.   
She had been alternating between reading a book and staring at the baby monitor. Katherine had made a few soft sounds, but not actually woken up. For the moment, she was silent.   
The clock ticked closer to midnight. Regina was thinking of going to bed. She knew the second her head hit the pillow, Katherine would be awake. But the day had been exhausting. Maybe a bath, that could be just as relaxing. And a bath was far easier to be interrupted from than sleep.  
She was still debating between her preferred place to be disturbed and waiting up for the baby when there was a knock on the door.   
No good came from someone showing up at 11:45 on a Saturday night.   
Regina got up and glanced out one of the windows. Sighing, she pulled the door open.   
Robin stood on the other side.   
“What do you want?” She asked, wondering if she sounded as exasperated as she felt. Why did he have to be here now? Why did he have to be here at all?   
He raised his hands in front of him, as if in a symbol of peace or surrender.   
“I’m not here to fight with you. I just have a request.”   
“I can’t help you.”   
“Please, Regina, just hear me out.” Regina frowned, but stepped back from the doorway.   
“All right.” She turned back into the house. She heard Robin follow her, closing the door behind him. “What do you want?”   
“A photograph.”   
“What?” Regina stared at him blankly. Briefly she glanced up the stairs, making sure there was no response from Henry. Vaguely, she still heard the music from his room. Good. Distracted.   
“Please, Regina, she’s my daughter. She’s my only daughter. All I want is one picture of her, and then I’ll go.”   
He was right. As much as it hurt, as much as it was hard to say, he was her father. Guilt swelled inside of her. Was she doing the wrong thing? Guilt pushed people to making strange decisions. Regina took a deep breath.   
“I have a whole CD full of pictures in the den. You can pick one out. I’ll print it for you.” She finally looked at him. It needed done. She had to give him a little slack. Robin looked relieved.   
“Thank you.” Regina motioned over her shoulder for him to follow her. In the den, she flipped on the lights and sat down to turn on the computer.   
“Just keep your voice down. Henry doesn’t need to know that you’re here.”   
“Fair enough.” Robin agreed. He watched the laptop screen as it lit up. “That’s an adorable picture.” He pointed to the wallpaper image of Katherine in a blue dress with a headband displaying a wide blue bow on her. Regina chuckled.   
“She’ll hate me some day for that one. Henry likes it. Says it makes her look like Alice in Wonderland. Maybe I should have named her Alice.”   
“I love her name.” Robin moved into the chair as Regina got up. “I’ve been playing it in my head all day. I think it’s beautiful.” Regina gave him a faint smile.   
“Good. Are you any better with a computer?”   
“A….little.”   
As she figured. Regina waited until the CD loaded up, then positioned the cursor over an arrow on the right side.   
“Click there, with this button.” She tapped the wireless mouse button. “Just look through them. I have to go get the baby monitor. She might be awake…soon.”   
“Of…course.” Robin’s eyes were fixed on the screen.   
In the living room, Regina picked up the baby monitor. It was still silent. Good.   
Why did he have to come here? Why couldn’t he just let well enough alone? She’d known today had set something off. One look at him this afternoon had told her that. She felt it in her all day. Now the question was, just how far gone were things?   
Regina realized she was griping the baby monitor too tightly, and forced her hand to relax. One picture. One picture wasn’t too much to ask. And then he’d go.   
Right? He would go, right?   
Stay asleep, Kat. Stay asleep.   
She returned to the den to find Robin leaning one elbow on the desk, looking at the computer screen with a smile radiating across his face. She leaned in to take a look at the image that was bringing him to it.   
“That’s a beautiful one. She was about two days old in it.” Regina sat down across the desk from him, placing the baby monitor in front of her.   
“She has my eyes.” Robin pointed out. Regina nodded enthusiastically in agreement.   
“That amongst everything else. She looks exactly like you.” Robin wrinkled his nose, shook his head no.   
“I do not know what baby you are looking at, but the only thing this child got from me is my eyes. She is a miniature version of you. I suspect she’s going to grow up to look exactly like her mother, only with blue eyes.”   
That felt good to hear. No one else mentioned whom Katherine looked like. Maybe they all thought it was too painful a conversation to have. Maybe no one thought about it. Maybe Katherine really did look like her, but Regina only saw Robin in her baby.   
They were silent for a few beats with only the clicking of the mouse and the drone of Henry’s upstairs technology.   
“Tell me about her.” Robin’s eyes never left the computer screen. He was transfixed at the sight of the baby in front of him.   
“What do you want to know?”   
“I don’t know. Tell me what she likes.” Regina laughed.   
“Robin she’s a month old. She likes eating, sleeping and throwing up on me.” Robin chuckled, eyes still on the computer screen.   
“Well then, what do you call her? Kathy?”   
“It’s funny you ask.” Regina looked at the baby monitor again and settled back into the chair. “I meant to call her Kate. Or Katie. Some people call her Katie-Henry does. But I ended up calling her Kat. Which I swore I would never do.”   
“Katie.” Robin murmured, his eyes on the screen. Regina suspected someone else had just joined the Katie bandwagon. “Do you read to her? Sing to her?”   
“Yes. To both. Henry and I both read to her. I’m trying to remember songs I knew from the Enchanted Forrest, but I’m afraid I didn’t know as many as I thought.”   
“It’s the effort that matters.” Robin shrugged. “She’ll remember it regardless.” Regina closed her eyes, shook her head.   
“Robin…you have….you have no idea what she means to me. She’s the most precious thing in the world.”   
Robin glanced upwards, pointed towards the doorway.   
“Don’t let Henry hear you say that.”   
“He understands. I love him too. More than I can say. I’d do anything for Henry. But I don’t know. There are times I just sit and stare at her….I just can’t believe she’s actually here. That she’s real. That she’s mine.”   
“But she’s not yours. At least not entirely.” Regina was silent. What argument could she make? Robin took her silence as an opportunity to continue.   
“Well, she’s quite real. At least from what I’ve seen. But then, of course, you’re talking to the man who didn’t know his daughter’s name until ten hours ago.”   
Regina finally looked at him, stared at him.   
“What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? Because I’m not. This is how-.”   
“Things have to be. I’ve heard it before, thank you.” Robin looked over the computer at her. “That does not make things any easier. You have no idea what it felt like today, to see you, to see her, and to have no idea what even her name was. I mean no disrespect, Regina, but you need to at least consider how I feel in this situation.”   
Regina lowered her eyes to her skirt. She watched the hemline not move for a few moments.   
“I’m….sorry.” She finally said, without looking up. “None of this was ever to hurt you…I actually meant to make things easier for you.”   
Robin opened his mouth. Then he seemed to reconsider the thought and stopped himself.   
“I’m not sure I’m in the mood to have this discussion with you tonight. I said I didn’t come here to fight, and I meant that. I just need to be able to look at her. When I want to, not when I have to steal a glimpse of her.”   
“Did you find one?” Regina glanced towards the doorway. Henry’s music was quiet now. He was either sleeping, or evesdropping. And knowing her son, it could be either.   
“They’re all beautiful. But I can’t take fifty of them. But the one with the blue bow….I know I’ll never get that one out of my head. So I might as well have it in my hands.” Regina smiled.   
“Fair enough.” She turned on the printer, loaded it with paper. When the sheet of wallet sized stopped printing, she took a pair of scissors and snipped one out.   
“As promised.” She held it out to him. Robin took it, held the picture in front of him for a moment.   
“Thank you.” He pulled a worn leather wallet from his pocket and carefully slipped the picture into the bill slot.   
It was at the moment small whimpers came from the baby monitor. They quickly escalated to full blown wails. Regina glanced at the clock. 12:20. Right on time, Katherine.   
Betrayed by her daughter. Before she was even six weeks old.   
“Well…I better…be going.” Robin pointed towards the door. “And you better…get…that.” He motioned back towards the baby monitor.   
“Yes. Well…”   
“I’ll talk to you later, Regina.” Robin started into the entry way, towards the front door. Regina followed a few steps behind him, intending to go directly upstairs.   
Guilt was making her throat dry out. She had never thought she’d feel so miserable. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. None of this was how it was supposed to go. Why couldn’t she just be alone with Katherine-and enjoy it? But truth be told, even when she was enjoying her baby, she was miserable beneath. She wanted Robin there with her, with them. She knew that was impossible. But even so-guilt thrived in her. If she let him walk out of the door now-.  
“Wait.” Regina looked up. Robin paused, his hand on the door. “Just-. Wait.” She finally met his eyes, shook her head. “This is silly.”


	7. Chapter 7

“This is silly.”  
Robin paused, his hand on the door. His eyes drifted up the stairs towards the baby’s cries.   
“What’s silly?”  
“You’re rushing out of the house to avoid an infant.” Regina sighed, pushing her hands through her hair. “Robin, I can’t keep doing this to you. She’s your daughter.” She held her breath a moment before finishing the statement. “Do you want to meet her?”   
Robin stood in momentary silence. His stunned eyes scanned over her face, searching for something. Belief? Sincerity? Finally, he answered her in a tone that was suppressing emotion.   
“Yes. Yes of course.”   
Regina nodded.   
“Give me a few minutes to feed her, then I’ll bring her down. Just wait here.”   
Having his acceptance, Regina hurried up the stairs. But first, she stopped and inched open Henry’s door. Henry was asleep on his stomach, facing the doorway. The crack of light from the doorway illuminated his face. Regina eased it shut before she woke him.   
Leaving Henry, she went down the hall to Katherine’s room. Katherine was still crying. She’d never cried this long alone before. Regina thought she now knew what it felt like to have her heart crushed.   
“I’m sorry, darling, I’m sorry.” She purred as she entered the nursery. “I’m so sorry.” She unbuttoned her blouse and opened her bra before picking Katherine up. Katherine paid her little attention, immediately latching onto her mother’s breast.   
“Pretend to listen to me for a just a second.” Regina paced the room, rocking the baby against her. “There’s someone downstairs I want you to meet. And it’s very important, ok? I don’t know how often you’re going to see him, so we have to make this work tonight.”   
Regina sighed, hugged Katherine to her.   
“I hope this is the right thing. For both of us.”   
When Katherine had her fill, Regina bounced her gently in her arms to keep her awake.   
“Stay with me, ok? Just for a little while.”   
She made sure Katherine was changed and acceptable to meet her father for the first time. She was wearing a white sleeper sprinkled with purple and pink hearts. Regina was not changing her clothes in the middle of the night. It would have to work. Fixing her shirt, Regina deemed them both ready. She tried to pretend her hands weren’t shaking as she picked up the baby and started towards the stairs.   
Robin’s eyes fixed on the baby as soon as they reached the top of the staircase. The look on his face, in his eyes, set Regina’s fears aside.   
“Here she is.” Regina purred as she reached his side. “This is Katherine.”   
“Katie.” Robin breathed, never looking away from the infant. His eyes were gleaming with unshed tears. The smile on his face was joy in its absolute purest form. His entire body seemed to radiate with it.  
“Do you want to hold her?”   
“Of course.” Regina passed the baby gently from her arms to his. Robin’s breath caught. He raised Katherine in front of him, shaking his head. He brought her to him, kissed her forehead, slowly with his lips lingering.   
“Hello my darling. I’m your daddy. Bet you thought you didn’t have one, did you? But you do. I’m right here. I’m right here, my precious.”   
Regina’s eyes filled with tears that she blinked back. The way he held their daughter, the way he looked at her. It was the single most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.   
“Are you tired? Robin murmured, pressing his forehead against Katherine’s. “We’re keeping you up, aren’t we?”   
Regina swallowed the lump in her throat, cleared it.   
“Don’t be concerned if she starts getting cranky. She’s tired.” Regina reached over, stroked her daughter’s hair off of her forehead.   
“Does she sleep well?” Robin’s fix on Katherine broke for a moment, and he looked back at Regina.   
“Yes.” Regina nodded. “About four hour blocks, usually.”   
“Well that’s good. And eating?”   
“She’s a good eater.”   
“You’re breast feeding her?”   
“A bit of both. I’ve been working with bottles a little. You never know when I might have to leave her somewhere. Especially in this town.” Robin turned his attention back to Katherine. He stared at her for a long moment, one hand rubbing the back of her head.   
“Regina….I didn’t come here to fight with you tonight, but I have to say this: I cannot keep pretending she isn’t mine, or that I don’t know anything about her. I just can’t-.” His words broke off for a moment “I can’t agree to this anymore. I won’t.”   
“It’s ok.” Regina held up her hand to stop him, her own tears threatening to spill over her eyes. The truth was that she loved him too much to see him hurt like this, too much to keep hurting him by her own actions. “I can’t ask you to anymore. I was wrong to try. She needs you, you need her. ”   
Robin’s eyes fell shut. He held Katherine tighter to him, his head falling against hers.   
“Thank you. But Regina, this won’t be easy.” Regina turned away from him to contain herself.   
“If we’re going to do this, we have to deal with Problem Number One.”   
“Marian.” Robin nodded. “I’ll handle her.”   
“What are you going to tell her?” Regina wasn’t 100% sure she trusted this plan.   
“The truth, I suppose.” Robin shrugged. He looked nervous. Hesitant. Regina was loosing more and more enthusiasm for this arrangement. As guilty as she felt, things had worked well so far. But she couldn’t let her own fears control this situation. Robin deserved to be with his daughter. Katherine deserved a father.   
“Unless of course you have a better idea.”   
“Well, we could always use a memory charm. Make her forget she knows anything about you.” Robin made a face, shook his head.   
“That’s a bit much. Let’s try the truth first.”   
“What is the truth?” Regina asked. She was curious. What version exactly was he going to tell? There were several ways their events could have been spun.   
“That she was dead. I had moved on-with you. And the product of that was Katie.”   
It was the truth-or rather close enough to it. Even if it didn’t sound as romantic as she wanted it to be. He was leaving out the fact that Regina was his soul mate-his true love.   
“Just remember,” Regina paced the entry way, looking over at him, “that in Marian’s mind, she’s been gone a much shorter time. You and I know how long it actually was. To her, she was never even dead-just afraid of becoming so.”   
Robin took a breath.   
“I never thought of that.”   
“Just take it as a warning, this conversation may not go as you have planned.” Robin shook his head firmly.   
“I know Marian. She won’t keep me from my own daughter.”   
“All right, but let’s be clear: I do not want Marian in Katherine’s life. She does not need a mother-she has me.”   
“Marian will not try to take your place in Katherine’s life.” Robin waved her statement away. “Besides,” the last word came out distracted, almost as an afterthought, “she hasn’t been well since she got back.”   
“What do you mean?” That startled Regina back to reality. She shot Robin a curious look.   
“I don’t know. She’s just been…sickly.”   
“Was she before?”   
“No.”   
Those words would come back to her, eventually. But tonight she passed over them because Katherine was beginning to whimper. Robin frowned down at her.   
“What’s wrong with her? What am I doing wrong?”   
“Nothing.” Regina stepped closer to him, rubbed Katherine’s back gently. “She’s tired.” She held out her arms. “Let me take her. She doesn’t know you well enough to fall asleep for you.”   
Robin leaned down and kissed the top over Katherine’s head. He pressed his face against her before reluctantly passing her over to Regina.   
“You should put her to bed before things get bad. And then get some sleep yourself.”   
Regina smiled, silently relieved that Katherine was back in her arms.   
“Yes. We’ll both have to be awake in four hours.”   
“And I should get back myself. I’ve been gone a long time.” He touched Regina’s arm, causing her to turn her attention back to him. “Thank you.”   
“Of course.” Regina murmured, her eyes glued to his. Robin leaned down, kissed Katherine again. Regina shuddered at the sudden closeness of him.   
“I’ll see you both soon. I promise.” He pulled the door open, looked back at Regina. “I promise. I’ll be back.”   
“All right.” Regina nodded. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when the door closed.   
“Well that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Regina asked Katherine as she moved through the downstairs, turning off lights and making sure doors were locked. “I think it went better than expected.”   
Katherine was asleep against her chest. She hadn’t even responded when Regina had offered her a pacifier. She hoped that wouldn’t come to an issue in two hours.   
Regina carried the baby upstairs and dropped into the nursery rocking chair. For a while, she rocked slowly trying to put the evening’s events into place. Had guilt just caused her to make a horrible decision? Had she just ruined everything? Maybe Marian would be ok with it, maybe she would just accept the entire situation.   
Regina knew that wasn’t true.   
“By the way, Kat,” Regina sighed heavily, “I may have killed your stepmother thirty years ago.”


	8. Chapter 8

Regina could find no real pattern to the nights Robin came. He always came late, midnight or later. Regina tolerated it for a few evenings until it became apparent it was beginning to stress Katherine.   
The baby was sleeping or barely awake when he arrived. She was able to stay awake without fussing for only a short time before she absolutely could not take anymore. Once she finally did fall asleep, she would sleep until after 8 in the morning. Some mornings, she was whiney and clingy. Regina couldn’t accomplish much in her day when Katherine screamed every time she was put down.   
“I’m not saying you can’t see her.” Regina told Robin.   
It was after 1:30. Katherine had been sound asleep, until Regina had retrieved her from her crib and passed her off to her father. She’d spent the next hour crying, and had finally worn herself out enough to sleep.   
“You just have to come earlier. We can’t keep putting her through this. She’s so confused because these two crazy people are waking her up all night. It’s too stressful for her. Besides, she’s actually fun during waking hours.”   
Robin sighed and leaned back on the couch. He seemed to be thinking. Regina reached out, laid her fingers lightly on his wrist.   
“Robin I’m not saying-.”   
“I know what you’re saying. You’re saying you shouldn’t have to spend the day with a cranky infant who’s had her sleep interrupted just so she can spend time with a man she generally has no interest in.”   
“It’s true.” Regina shrugged, looking at him sadly. Robin nodded.   
“You’re right. It’s not fair to her-or to you.”   
“So you’ll come during the day?”   
“I will.” He laid his hand over hers, squeezed it lightly. “I promise.” 

She didn’t know if he’d told Marian. She wasn’t going to bring it up. Truthfully, it was his business. Unless he showed up on her doorstep with Marian in tow she didn’t care.   
One afternoon, Regina was settled on the floor beside Katherine. Katherine was lying on a green quilted mat that was decorated with jungle animals. There she was alternating between watching the lights on the toy Regina was holding, attempting to roll on her side, and reaching for other toys to put in her mouth.   
“You almost made it that time.” Regina put the toy down and ran her fingers over Katherine’s chest, tickling her lightly. “It was your best try yet. I think you’re going to perfect it very soon.”  
That was how it started: rolling onto the side, the back, the stomach, then crawling, then standing, then walking and then-.  
She was getting ahead of herself. Katherine was still small, and she was not missing that for anything.   
The doorbell rang. Regina glanced up suspiciously. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Could it mean-?   
She got up faster than she intended and was too excited to see if it was him.   
But her surprise came when she opened the door. Tinkerbell stood on the otherside.   
“Tinkerbell.” Regina took a step back in surprise. “This is…unexpected.”   
“I’m sure it is.” The blonde smiled and held up a box in her hand. “I brought a gift for the baby. I was hoping to lay eyes on this little princess of yours.”   
Unexpected as it was, Regina stepped aside from the door. Tink moved inside. Regina laid her coat over the banister and motioned the other woman to follow her.   
“This is Miss Katherine.” Regina returned to her original place on the floor. Tinkerbell smiled brightly and knelt down on the opposite side.   
“Regina, she is beautiful. May I?” Regina shrugged.   
“She’s in a good mood today, I don’t see why she won’t go to you.”   
“Well, let’s try.” Tinkerbell reached down. “May I, Miss Katherine? May I hold you, darling?”   
Katherine looked generally unimpressed by the entire event, so she kept her eyes on Regina for safety’s sake. Regina smiled, reached over and lightly stroked her fingers against Katherine’s forehead.   
“It’s ok, love.”   
“Yes, it’s ok. Your mother’s right there.” Tinkerbell bounced the baby gently in her arms. “And I’ve got you. Nothing’s going to happen to you. What should I be calling her?”   
Regina rolled her eyes, let her palms fall up in a questioning pose.   
“Any form of Kat, Kate, Katie or Katherine you like. It doesn’t really matter. The whole town calls her something different. I figure once she’s old enough to talk, she can pick how she introduces herself. So long as it isn’t Kathy.”   
“Well they all suit her.” Tink held the baby in front of her before shifting her into one arm and offering Regina the box she’d brought. “Here, for both of you.”   
Regina opened the box. From inside, she pulled a snow globe. There was nothing inside except for bright glittering sparkles.   
“Pixie dust.”   
“Not the real thing, just a fancy charm. But I thought it might be good for both of you to have the reminder.”   
Regina twirled the snow globe, smiled.   
“I’ll put it in her room. I’ll explain it to her when she’s older. Right after I get through explaining that all of the fairy tale characters in her books are real people in her town.”   
“I think any little girl who be thrilled to learn that.” Tinkerbell held the baby face to face with her, smiled at her.   
“Except when they find out that their mother was villain of the story.” Regina frowned and set the snow globe down on the coffee table.   
“Was the villain of the story.” Tink looked over at her. “That’s not true anymore.”   
“Not in her case. Never in her case.” Regina’s eyes fixed on her daughter. “Why are you here, anyway?”   
Tinkerbell merely shrugged and focused on Katherine.   
“Maybe I thought you might enjoy having someone else to talk to. Maybe I thought enough time had passed from our history. Or that maybe you were finally ready to accept that I was right all along.”   
Regina sighed and closed her eyes.   
“So here we go again, hhmm?”   
“Are the town rumors true?” Tink turned to face Regina. “Are you really keeping Robin away from her?” Regina shook her head and looked down at her hands in her lap.   
“They were true, but they’re not anymore. Robin’s been seeing her for the better part of a month now.”   
“That’s good!” Tinkerbell’s enthusiasm was almost too much. Regina frowned at her. “Regina! That’s great!”   
“No it’s not.” Regina rolled her eyes. “For now, it works fine. But what am I going to do when she gets older? When she can recognize him in public? When she doesn’t understand why she can’t go see her daddy in town? How am I going to explain that to her?”   
“Maybe by then everything will have worked its self out.” Regina groaned. She gave Tinkerbell a disgusted look.   
“You are not going to start with this soul mate crap again, are you?”   
“It’s true, Regina. I know it’s hard right now, but it’s true. Pixie dust doesn’t lie, you two are soul mates.”   
“Yeah, well, tell that to his wife.” Regina gathered up a stack of Katherine’s toys. “And please don’t tell me how if I hadn’t messed things up years ago we wouldn’t be here now.”   
“I wouldn’t get too fixated on Marian.” Tinkerbell stated calmly, still cuddling Katherine. Regina’s head shot up, confusion covering her face.   
“What do you mean by that?”   
“Nothing. Just that I know things aren’t working out right now, but they will, eventually. Marian or no Marian.”   
“Great. Maybe we’ll be together when we’re 80.” Regina turned a rattle over in her hand, frowning.   
“So you do love him.” Regina didn’t respond, just squeezed the rattle tighter. “Regina, you can tell me. Of all people, you can tell me.”   
Regina let her eyes close, took a deep breath.   
“I love him so much I physically feel the ache inside of me.” She opened her eyes and looked over at the fairy. Tinkerbell smiled.   
“Just don’t lose hope.” Regina smiled sadly and shook her head.   
“I already have.” 

 

Tinkerbell had been cradling Katherine for forty-five minutes when the doorbell rang.   
“You’re popular this afternoon.” Tinkerbell remarked. Regina rolled her eyes.   
“I’m never this popular. Hopefully this isn’t bad news.”   
She got up and went to the door. Pulling it open, she blinked back her surprise.   
“You said to come earlier.” Robin smiled. “Does this work?”   
“I-. Um. Yeah, of course.” Regina took a step back and motioned him inside.   
Robin froze in the entryway when he saw Tinkerbell, who had stood up with Katherine.   
“Oh, I didn’t realize you already had company.”   
“Don’t mind me.” Tink smiled and moved into the entryway with them. “I was just leaving. So I will give you this.” She handed Katherine to Robin. “And be on my way.”   
“You don’t have to-.” Regina began, but the blonde fairy was already putting on her coat.   
“I’ll talk to you soon, Regina. Robin Hood, good to see you again.” She waved and disappeared out of the front door.   
Robin looked from Regina to the door and back again.   
“You want to tell me what that was all about?”   
“Remember when I told you pixie dust showed me my soul mate?”   
“Yes….”   
“Well, that was the fairy who gave it to me.” Regina walked into the living room and began gathering up toys.   
“Ah,” Robin nodded as he followed her, his face showing his understanding. “So-.”   
“Let’s talk about something else, shall we?” Regina stopped him.   
“Of course.” Robin looked at the collection of toys she’d acquired. “Now what’s all this?”   
“Just a wide variety of Katherine’s collection.” Regina smiled, leaned in to kiss Katherine quickly. She pulled back before she could take in the full essence of Robin.   
“Well, it looks like fun.” Robin sat down on the floor and picked up a stuffed rabbit. “Who’s this?”   
“That’s a particular favorite.” Regina sat down on the edge of the sofa. “Watch, the ears always go right into her mouth.”   
Robin bounced the rabbit up her chest, tickled it against her face. He laughed as Katherine grasped one ear and shoved it into her mouth.   
“Spot on with that one. Is she teething?”   
“Not yet, but most likely getting ready to.” Regina sighed and slid back to the floor. Robin picked up a zebra striped rattle, shook it in front of Katherine.   
“Isn’t this a little bold for her?” Regina chuckled.   
“It matches her nursery.”   
“You put her into a black and white nursery?” Robin looked momentarily shocked.   
“It has pink accents every where.” Regina waved him away. She picked up a stuffed pink cat and shook it to Katherine. A small bell jingled inside of it.   
“Well, I’m sure it’s….lovely.” Robin shrugged. Regina smiled.   
“I’ll show you before you go. See, I told you she’s much more interesting when she’s awake.”   
“She is that.” Robin tickled Katherine gently. “I’m glad I could come.”   
“Me too.” Regina murmured. They were both silent for a moment, and then Regina decided she couldn’t not ask any longer. “So I guess you told Marian.”   
His reaction wasn’t what she was expecting. Robin sighed heavily.   
“Do you have to bring up such an uncomfortable topic?” Regina stared at him, then rolled her eyes.   
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize bringing up your wife was such an “uncomfortable” topic.”   
“I do not want to have this discussion right now.” Robin gave her a warning look. Regina held up her hands in surrender. She said nothing, but her suspicions continued to tug at her.   
“I’m glad you did.”   
“Regina.”   
“I’m just saying-.”   
“Look,” Robin sighed, “yes I told Marian about Katherine. Katherine is only part of the equation though. So let’s stop talking about it.”   
Only part of the equation? What did he mean by that? Regina looked at him curiously. But she didn’t ask. She didn’t want him to leave. Even if he was only here for Katherine, she wanted him here.   
He played with Katherine for a while longer. They made small talk about her. But Regina could feel it. She could feel the bond between then. Every time he laughed, or teased her about something with Katherine, she felt it pulsing in the room between them. Her heart throbbed for Robin. Did he feel it? He had to.   
Katherine began to whimper in Robin’s arms. Alarm crept across Robin’s face.   
“Why is she doing that? Why does she always do that for me?”   
“That’s actually a different cry than what you’re used to. That’s the hunger cry.” Robin stared at her.   
“How do you know that?”   
“I’m her mother. It’s my job.” Regina got up. “I’ve been working with her on the bottles during the day. Do you want to try feeding her?”   
“Do you think she’ll let me?” Robin looked suspiciously between Katherine and Regina.  
“Oh, I think if she’s hungry enough she’ll let anyone feed her.” Regina smiled. Robin rolled his eyes at Regina and turned back to Katherine.   
“Your mother is not funny. At all.” He pressed his index finger against the baby’s nose. Katherine made a soft sound and reached up, grabbing one of her father’s fingers with one tiny hand. Regina heard Robin’s gasp.   
“I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble with her.” Regina smiled softly.   
Robin followed her into the kitchen, cradling Katherine in the crook of his left arm.   
“Rather unbelievable…in the Enchanted Forest the princess is the daughter of the thief and the queen herself.”  
“I’m not sure they’d accept her as a princess there, not without you publically renouncing her as yours.” Regina set about getting Katherine’s bottle together. She was still by no means comfortable nursing her in front of Robin.   
“Well that’s not happening.” Robin rocked Katherine, smiling down at her. Regina chuckled and shook her head, focusing on the bottle. “What will you tell her?” Regina glanced up, looking over at him.   
“About what?”   
“About our homeland.” Regina ran the bottle under warm tap water to heat it slightly.   
“Well, I would tell her it is a land completely different from the one that she was born in…with different rules and customs and different types of creatures.”   
“You’re not playing it up very much.” Regina turned, dried the bottle on a dishtowel.   
“What’s to tell?” Regina shrugged. “Telling her about my life as the Evil Queen may not fly very well.” She crossed the kitchen and held out the bottle to Robin. “Remember how?”   
“It’s been awhile, but I think I’ll figure it out.”   
“Don’t panic if she won’t take it. She’s still getting used to…” Regina watched as Katherine searched briefly for the nipple before taking it into her mouth.  
“There we go.” Robin murmured, swaying gently. “She’s got this.”   
“Yes she does.” Regina smiled, glancing over at him. “What will you tell her, anyway?”   
“About the Enchanted Forest?” Robin looked at Katherine for a long moment. “I would tell her the tales of a dashingly handsome thief and all of his adventures. How he stole from the rich, gave to the poor. How he defeated the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. How, after spending years running from his Queen’s Black Knights, he finally met her in person just as the Wicked Witch’s Flying Monkey took off into the sky. And found that she was nowhere near as evil as the stories that were told.”  
A pang of guilt hit her stomach. Did he know she was the one who had killed Marian and was letting it go? Or did he really not know?   
“Be careful how you tell that story.” Regina warned, her eyes on Katherine.   
They’d have that particular discussion another day. Maybe in fifty or sixty years.   
“You worry too much.” Robin told her.  
“Yeah, that’s what it is.” Regina leaned against the refrigerator, just taking the two of them in. Robin was lost in Katherine, murmuring softly to her, leaning down so he could be closer to her. It was beautiful. He was such a good father.   
Robin looked over at her.   
“Are you crying?”   
“No.” Regina wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and turned away from him. When she looked back, he was watching her with an expression of such tenderness that she wasn’t comfortable seeing it on his face.

 

Regina was not ok with things going well. Typically because she’d found that things went the best right before they fell apart. And for the moment, things were going very well.   
She had determined she could leave Katherine alone with Snow if she actually decided to work in in the office or meet Tinkerbell for lunch. Regina didn’t like leaving Katherine, she knew she’d never be one of those parents who enjoyed time away from her baby. But she had to admit it was nice every now and then to move without having to worry about baby accessories.   
She could get along with two out of three Charmings with no problem, and could tolerate Emma for brief periods as long as they weren’t left to their own conversation topics. She and Tinkerbell had worked past their issues, and were close to actually developing a real friendship.   
Henry came by regularly. At night, he was just as happy as she was to put Katherine to bed so they could spend time together, real time. Regina loved playing games with him, even trying to figure out his phone and video games. Katherine was special, but Henry had a connection to her that would never be broken.  
And she and Robin had bonded. In just a short time, they’d bonded so much over Katherine. She couldn’t deny it, so she wasn’t. It was just the two of them. There was no one to hide it from, so why should she. And she didn’t care. Their connection was real, and if that was the closest she got to having him, then she was going to take it.   
She should have guessed something was about to go wrong when Tinkerbell dropped by late one evening and asked her to have coffee with her. Late to a woman with an infant was 7:00.   
“I can’t. Katherine goes to bed soon. I hate messing up her sleeping schedule.”   
“So get her ready for bed and let her fall asleep while you’re out, then put her straight to bed when you get home. Come on, Regina. This is the first decent night we’ve had this spring. I hate to see you waste it.”   
It was true. While the weather wasn’t close to breaking, it was warmer than usual and the sun was actually shining. And the wind wasn’t blowing, that was a huge benefit.   
Regina rolled her eyes.   
“All right, give me 10 minutes.” 

 

It was an outing that had happened multiple times over the last few weeks. It was not unusual to see Tinkerbell and Regina in Granny’s, so no one gave them a second look. And until tonight, there had been no incidents.  
Regina determined Ruby was the fourth person in town that Katherine would go to. Well, the fourth person not counting her mother.   
“How have you been in here all these times and I’ve never got to hold her?” Ruby asked, bouncing Katherine on her side. Regina was convinced the baby was going to have a meltdown, but she kept it together.   
“Tonight’s clearly your lucky night.” Regina smiled. Katherine was watching her nervously.   
“Can I take her back to see Granny’s real quick? She loves her.”   
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Regina nodded. Ruby grinned and quickly disappeared with the baby.   
“I’m proud of you.” Tink took a sip of her coffee. “You’re actually letting that child out of your sight at regular intervals.”   
“Well, I’m trying not to make it a habit.” Regina picked up her own cup, brought it her lips but didn’t drink. “I like to be close to her. She needs me. Besides, I’m not 100% sure she’s not going to freak out on Ruby.”   
“There’s a lot of people in this town who care about her.” Tinkerbell advised her. “Present company included.”   
“I appreciate that.” Regina finally drank from her coffee cup, but didn’t relax until Ruby brought Katherine back to them.   
They made their usual small talk over coffee. Regina held Katherine on her lap, leaning against her abdomen until the baby started to fuss. She gladly went to Tinkerbell when Regina offered.   
“I see how it is.” Regina smiled, resting her chin in her hand. “You meet your first fairy and I’m old news.”   
“Don’t joke, Regina. This child adores you.” Tinkerbell kissed Katherine’s cheek. “She just finds me irresistible.”   
Regina smirked and raised her eyebrows before taking another sip of coffee. But the smile drained from her face as the door opened.   
“Why do I bother coming here again?” Tinkerbell looked curious, turned to see what was going on.   
Robin, Marian and Little John had all entered the diner. Tinkerbell turned back to Regina, shaking her head.   
“Don’t let it bother you. He’s your daughter’s father. This should not be a problem.”   
“It shouldn’t be,” Regina agreed, “but one of them disagrees with that.”   
Robin glanced back and locked eyes with her. Regina raised her hand in a greeting and then went back to her coffee.   
“Regina, Regina. Focus.” Tink held up Katherine. “This is not a problem.”   
Regina wished she believed her.   
For a few more minutes, Tinkerbell was right. Regina turned her attention back to finishing her coffee. It was getting later anyway. Katherine was way too awake for 9:00 at night. Regina had almost relaxed until she heard a raised voice from the front of the diner.   
“What is this?!” Marian’s voice brought Regina’s eyes back to her. She was holding Robin’s wallet in one hand. And in the other-.   
“Shit.” Regina closed her eyes.  
“What?” Tinkerbell turned around, but Marian was already crossing the diner, her eyes set on Regina.   
Regina was not intimidated, she was annoyed. She sat up straighter and glared at the other woman.   
“Now you listen to me!” Marian exclaimed as she reached the table. She took the picture Regina had given Robin in both hands and tore it once, then a second time. She let the scraps scatter over the table like confetti. “You and your bastard child need to keep away from my husband!”   
Regina’s eyes flashed with anger. She was now too calm, too collected. Marian could say what she wanted about Regina, Regina expected that. But Katherine was an entirely different story.   
“No, you listen to me.” Regina rose slowly to her feet, stood facing Marian. Rage was a powerful thing. It could make people act irrationally. And Marian suddenly seemed to realize her mistake instantly. She took a step back. “If you ever, ever say another word about one of my children again, you’ll find yourself face to face with the Evil Queen you’re so afraid of.”   
Marian took another step backwards. Robin was already behind her with his hand on her upper arm, pulling her away.   
“Regina. Regina.” Tinkerbell was standing beside her. Regina broke her glare, which had followed Marian out of the door, to look at the fairy. Tink held Katherine out to her. “Here. Take her.”   
Regina took her baby, hugged her to her chest. Katherine was unfazed by the entire ordeal. She grabbed a handful of Regina’s collar and held tight. Regina clung to her daughter, inhaling her essence.   
It was one thing to cross her. It was an entirely different thing to cross her children.


	9. Chapter 9

Regina kept her temper for promptly another forty-five minutes.   
That was long enough to drive home and get Katherine into bed. True to Tink’s theory, Katherine had fallen asleep during the short drive home. Regina carried her inside, humming softly to her, relishing in the baby’s warm body against hers. She spent a few more minutes rocking the baby, and then tucked her into her crib.   
Then she closed the nursery door. Regina cast a soundproofing spell and with a flick of her wrist, sent every painting in the downstairs entryway crashing to the floor.   
She was furious. Furious. Absolutely furious. How dare that woman? How dare she?! Marian had no right approaching Regina-or her child-let alone speaking to them. Let alone speaking of Katherine in such a manner.   
A flip of her hand sent a vase crashing to the floor.   
Regina wanted nothing more than to fry Marian into nothing but a pile of ashes. It would solve at least a couple of her problems.   
But it would create as many problems as it would solve. The town would turn on her. Henry would be furious. Katherine would end up alone with Robin, most likely growing up living in the forest running around with a bow and arrow like an Outlaw Snow White. Regina shuddered at the thought. No, killing Marian had never been an option, nor would it be.   
Regina was momentarily proud of herself that she finally had something to put over her own vengeance. A year ago, she wouldn’t have sworn to it. But now, Henry and Katherine needed her too much to risk anything. Her children made vengeance not worth the risk.  
But Marian herself had looked…Regina thought about it. Robin had mentioned she’d been sick. And she did look sick. But not just sick….tired…old even. It was the strangest thing really….  
Regina was brought from her thoughts by knocking-no, pounding-on the front door.   
“Regina! Let me in! I know you’re awake!” Robin’s voice called from the other side.   
Regina frowned. She yanked open the front door and Robin stormed passed her without waiting for an invitation.   
“Can I stay with you tonight?” He dropped a backpack along with his bow and arrows onto the floor.   
Regina’s face registered her shock. She closed the door, turned around.   
“You left her?”   
“Well you didn’t actually expect me to stay with someone who used that word to describe my daughter, did you?” He was furious too. He was pacing. The muscles in his jaw were tight. His hands clenched into fists at his side. “For her to use that word…to talk about my daughter…”  
His voice trailed off, but his hand slammed against the nearest wall. Rubbing his knuckles, he turned to face Regina.   
“I’d apologize, but apparently you felt the same way.” He nodded around the hallway. Regina shrugged. The mess was not important right now.   
“So you apparently told her.”   
“Of course I told her. I told you I wouldn’t, didn’t I?” He shot her an angry glare. “I told her the morning after our conversation.” He leaned against an end table, pressing both palms down as he stared into the polished wood.   
“I take it that it that didn’t go well.” Regina grumbled, wrapping her arms around her chest.   
“It didn’t.” Robin told the table. “She said it was impossible. Absolutely impossible that someone like me could have gotten close enough to someone like you to conceive a child. Couldn’t believe that you’d managed to produce something so innocent.” His head shook from side to side. “The Marian I knew never would have…she never….”   
He spun around and faced Regina. There was a look of strangled emotion on his face. He was either trying to keep himself from crying or throwing something.  
“Regina, if things had been different….if she’d never….. I would have married you the second we found out you were pregnant.”   
“I know.” Regina whispered. “I know.”   
A year’s worth of pain uncoiled inside of her and broke. Tears well in her eyes and poured out in the same instant, running in rivers down her cheeks.   
Robin reached for her. She let him take her into his arms and hold her, her arms wrapping around his neck as she sobbed. His body shook with his own sobs. Regina felt them through her chest. She clung tighter, held him closer. She held his pain, while he held hers, finally sharing it together after so much time.   
“Robin.” She breathed between sobs. His arms felt so right, so natural, so safe. He stepped back, took her face in his hands.   
“We did nothing wrong when we conceived Katherine.”  
“I know.” She gasped, swallowing down her tears. His hands stroked her face, traced it. Her hands slid up to hold his. She pressed her palms against his cheeks, taking him in.   
“Regina, I loved you so much. I love you so much.” His lips fell onto hers, crushing them in a passionate kiss.   
Regina gasped against him. This was wrong. They were crossing a line. But she didn’t care. All she wanted was to kiss him, feel him, love him. It might be the closest she ever came again.   
His hands slid down from her face, across her arms and down to her waist. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He was pushing her against the living room doorway. Regina wrapped her arms around his neck, clung. Her brain was screaming at her to stop. But who cared? Marian was going to villanize her anyway. What did it matter if she gave her one more reason to?”   
Robin’s right hand moved to cover her left breast. His thumb stroked the nipple through her shirt and bra. She heard herself moan softly against his lips. His erection was pressed between them. He wanted her, she wanted him. And she was going to-.   
No, no she wasn’t. She wasn’t going to add to an already bad situation. So far, she’d done nothing to be ashamed of. If she did this now, if she took advantage of Robin’s anger and hurt tonight-. No, this was wrong.   
She broke the kiss with a restless twist of her head.   
“Robin, we have to stop.” She gasped breathlessly.   
“No we don’t.” He sought her mouth again. Regina raised her hands, shoved against his chest.   
“Yes, we do. We can’t do this.”   
“Why?” He whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.  
“Because you don’t want to do this.” Regina shoved him harder, took a step away from him. “You’re hurt. And you’re angry. Tomorrow, you’ll regret this.”   
Robin put his hands behind his head and took a deep breath.   
“Why do you have to be right about this?”   
“Because you know it’s wrong just as much as I do.” Regina took a deep breath of her own. Her heart was still pounding in her chest. Stopping had been one of the hardest decisions of her life. Part of her still wanted to continue.   
“How is Katherine? Is she ok?” The baby appeared to suddenly seemed to dawn on him. He looked at her with concern in his eyes. Regina nodded.   
“She’s fine. It didn’t faze her.”   
“Good. That’s good.” Robin began pacing the entryway. Regina didn’t think he could stand still tonight. “This is wrong. It’s all wrong.”   
“I know.” Regina ran her fingers through her hair, tugging it out of her face. “If it wasn’t for-.”   
“Regina-.”   
“No! If it wasn’t for Emma Swan, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”   
“You can’t just blame Emma.”   
“Why not?” Regina asked angrily. “Why can’t I? If she hadn’t undone the past, if she hadn’t brought Marian back-.”   
“We can’t just blame Emma.” Robin gave her a long, serious look. “She’s not entirely at fault.”   
“Explain to me why not.”   
“I’m just trying to say, she isn’t the only party at fault in this situation.” Regina glared at him.   
“Excuse me?”  
“You heard me, Regina. She wasn’t the only one involved in this. We both were. Emma didn’t have anything to do with how you and I reacted to the situation.”   
“You went back to your wife!”  
“I had no choice!” He finally exclaimed.   
For the first time, Regina saw the frustration on his face. It was something she didn’t understand. What exactly did he have to be so frustrated about? He got what he wanted.   
“Oh yes, we should all feel terrible for you.” Regina turned away from him. “You, who got the woman you adored, back from the dead. You got a the second chance the rest of us only dream about.”   
“But you can’t go back in time.” Robin murmured. He had been looking down at the floor, but he finally looked over at her. “You can’t go back in time. You can’t recreate something. I found that out….the hard way.”   
“For a man who got that second chance, you don’t sound very happy.” It was the truth. She had to say it. One of them had to.   
“Because this entire bloody town assumed I was going to settle down with my late wife, and go on about my life like nothing had changed. No one realized just how much things had changed! And no one cared to ask.”  
“And you certainly didn’t help anything by trying to talk to someone.”   
“What was I supposed to say?” Robin sounded exasperated. “Was I supposed to tell everyone that I didn’t want to be with my son’s mother anymore? That I didn’t want that second chance so many people had heard me beg for over the years after Marian’s death.”   
“If it was the truth, it might have helped.” Regina frowned at him. Had this entire year gone by just because he couldn’t have bothered to bring it up to someone?   
“You pushed me away.”   
“Oh, so now this is my fault?” Regina looked up at him, arched one perfect eyebrow. “It’s ok, just say it. I’m quite accustomed to being blamed for things that are not my fault. You aren’t the first person and you won’t be the last to accuse me of being behind whatever problem you’ve decided you can’t handle.”   
“I’m didn’t say it was your fault.” Robin sighed, scrubbing his face with one hand. “It was my fault. Your fault. Emma’s fault. Marian’s fault. All of us.”   
“I don’t understand how you-.”  
“You wouldn’t talk to me. No calls. No visits. Nothing. And when you found out you were pregnant, you tried to pretend it wasn’t my baby.”   
“But you’re not saying it’s my fault.” Regina rolled her eyes.   
“Regina-.”   
“No. You want to blame me for this? Fine. Fine then. If you were so miserable with Marian, you could have left. You could have spoken up about how miserable you were. You certainly don’t seem happy, yet you stayed. Just why is that.”   
“I’m not happy.” Robin muttered. “For the first month, I was. I actually believed that we could recreate what we had. And then I realized that you can’t go back to something that once was. You can’t recreate something you once had.”   
“Then why didn’t you say something? Or leave?” She asked again.  
“Like I said, everyone expected me to be able to resume my life with Marian. Even I thought it was what I wanted-what I had always wanted. And you were pushing me away. I didn’t even know if you still cared about me.”   
“Of course I still cared about you.” Regina felt like her eyes were raw from crying, yet they were trying to form more tears. “But when Marian was back, I became the other woman. I was, once again, the Evil Queen ruining someone’s life.”   
“Don’t you, and everyone else, think that I should have had a bigger say in the matter?”  
“You did have a say in the matter-you just didn’t use it. How was everyone supposed to know you wanted a say when you kept playing the happy family game?”   
Regina was annoyed. She continued to feel blamed for a situation she’d neither created nor controlled. And she was angry. She was angry with Marian. With Robin. With Emma. She was just angry. She wanted to scream at him. Wanted to scream him out of her life. Maybe taking Katherine back to the Enchanted Forest was becoming a more enticing option if it would get them both the hell away from this mess.   
“Regina, you’re missing my point.”   
“Perhaps I am.” Regina stared at him. “Care to make it a little more clear?”   
“I never got to make a decision on what I wanted. On where I wanted to make my life.”   
“So now, all of a sudden because Marian made you angry, you’ve decided you want to be with Katherine and I?”   
“Is that so hard to believe?” He took a step towards her. Regina took a step back.   
“Yes, because you’re angry. I think about the way you talked to me about Marian, about how much you loved her. That type of love doesn’t die. And I’m sure it wasn’t all bad with Marian in the last few months. Tomorrow, when you’re no longer angry, you’ll want to go right back to Marian and Roland.”   
“It wasn’t all bad.” Robin agreed. He took a deep breath, his shoulders falling heavily. “It was good for awhile. But I could never stop thinking about you. And when I found out you were pregnant, it was worse. I was so worried about you, worried about the baby, worried that something would happen to one of you…” He trailed off, shook his head. “Regina, you’re all I’ve wanted for so long now.”   
Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. Regina wrapped an arm around her stomach. She wanted to curl up, to protect herself, to ward him off. She didn’t want him to love her. She didn’t want him to say these things. If he didn’t, it was so much easier to protect herself.   
He seemed to sense it. He was in front of her, one hand resting against her cheek.   
“Regina, I can see it all over you. Why are you hiding from this?”   
“Because I can’t just give into this.” Regina whispered, raising her hand to push his away. “I can’t just pretend to be happy tonight knowing that I’ll be crushed when you decide six months from now that you’ve never been happy with me and all you want is Marian!”  
“That won’t happen.”   
“You can’t promise that!” Regina exclaimed. “You can’t! A year ago, would you have promised Marian the same thing?! Did you promise her? You never thought you would have ended up here. Two years ago, if someone had given you this chance, you would have thought it would have been the answer to your dreams.”   
“Regina, I had moved on. I had buried Marian. I had grieved for her, and I had accepted her death and moved on. I had moved on with you.”   
“What does it-?”   
“Would you let me finish!?” He gasped. His face was frustrated. Regina frowned, but she shut up.   
“I can’t just turn feelings on and off. It was wrong of me to pretend I could just pick up with Marian like none of those things had happened.”   
The look on her face apparently didn’t help. Robin shook his head. His jaw set.   
“What do you want me to say?”  
“I want you to stop saying what you think I want to hear, and I want you to listen to yourself.” Regina finally reached out to take his hand. “You’re not saying that I’m all you want. You’re saying you never got to make a decision about what you want.”  
“Maybe I am.” Robin looked down at the floor. “Maybe I am confused.” He finally looked back up at her. “Things are such a mess.”   
“How to we fix them?” Regina whispered the words as she leaned back against the wall. He was right-things were a mess. And no matter what the outcome, they had to resolve them. Things could not remain uncomfortable, or tense. If Marian stayed involved, that had to be fixed too. Regina couldn’t keep denying how expansive Katherine’s family was at the moment.  
“You keep saying you couldn’t go back in time with Marian. You and I can’t go back in time either. There’s no guarantee we could capture what we once had.”   
“Unless you believe pixie dust.” Robin gave her a faint smile.   
“Stop.” Regina warned him, rewarding his smile with a firm glare. “We can’t even talk like that right now.”   
“Then what are you proposing?” Robin’s tone of voice told her he was getting annoying. She needed to make her point-and quickly.   
“I’m proposing that you take some time away from both of us.” Regina took a deep breath. “Not from your children, that’s not what I’m saying, but you can’t try to have relationships with Marian and I. You need to sort out your own emotions. Maybe finally make the decision you claim everyone else made for you.”   
Robin stared off into nothing for a long moment. His face was expressionless for the first time of the night.   
“I know you well enough to know why you push me away. I know why you push everyone away.”   
“Why’s that?”   
“Because you’re afraid of being hurt.” Robin looked back at her, and she hated the tender sparkle that was gleaming in his eyes.   
“What do you expect me to do? Sit here and gladly wait to see if you chose me?” Robin shook his head.   
“The last thing that I ever want to do, is hurt you. So what I’m going to do, first thing tomorrow, is get a room at Granny’s. And I’m going to take your advice, and take some time for myself. But that doesn’t mean you and I should not try to be friends. We’re always going to be Katherine’s parents. We have to at least be friends for her sake.”   
“That’s fair.” Regina felt the tension in the room go down. Maybe, just maybe, they were finally on the road to fixing things. It would not necessarily be immediate, but they could finally be putting themselves on a path to have a real relationship-even if it was just the relationship of two parents trying to share a child.  
“You know, we should have had this conversation nine months ago.” Robin gave her a half smile. Regina chuckled softly.   
“Well, I didn’t find out I was pregnant until I was four months along. So technically we only needed to have this conversation seven months ago.”  
They shared another laugh.   
“Can I still stay here tonight?” Robin asked. Regina nodded.   
“Yes, you can stay. But don’t even think you’re sleeping in my bedroom. And you’re going to keep your hands to yourself.”   
“Don’t worry.” Robin held up his hands. “I’ll behave.”  
“Good.” Regina smiled as Robin picked up his things.   
Just then, she heard the whimpers from the baby monitor. Regina knew those cries. Katherine would put herself back to sleep. She was better at that now. There was no need to rush.  
Robin instantly looked at the monitor and then started up the stairs.   
“She’ll be fine.” Regina told him. “She’ll fall back asleep soon.”   
But Robin was already most of the way upstairs. Regina followed him. He deposited his things in the doorway of the spare room and then went to Katherine’s nursery. Regina remained in the doorway as she watched him scoop Katherine out of her crib.   
“It’s all right, darling. Daddy’s here. Daddy will always be here to protect you.”


	10. Chapter 10

Regina was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and drinking a cup of coffee. At the table, Robin was drinking from his own mug and holding Katherine on his lap with his free arm.   
Regina was rubbing her temples, hoping the caffeine kicked in soon, when there was a knock on the door. Robin glanced over at her.   
“Expecting anyone?” Regina put her mug down, shook her head.   
“Not at all. No, you stay.” She motioned to Robin to stay seated when he tried to get up. “You’ve got your hands full.”   
In the foyer, Regina opened the door and instantly took a step back.   
Marian stood on the other side of the door.   
But it wasn’t just the fact that she was here. It was her appearance. Now, closer, not in a fit of rage, Regina could see just how bad the other woman looked. Lines running through the skin of her face, dark circles under her eyes, gray streaks running through her dark hair; the entire thing was a strange picture.   
“Marian?” Regina’s tone expressed her confusion in one word.   
“Is Robin here?” The other woman asked. Regina saw now there was fear in her eyes and face. Was it just the idea of facing the Evil Queen? Or something more? Regina had a strange feeling about this. “It’s the only place I thought he might have gone…”  
“Marian?” Robin appeared in the doorway behind Regina. “What’s happened?”   
He was putting Katherine into Regina’s arms and stepping forward, reaching for Marian. Was this something he was accustomed to? Or was Marian’s state a shock to him too?   
“It’s so much worse today.” Marian told him, squeezing his hands. “I woke up and it’s much worse.”   
“What’s she talking about?” Regina looked from Robin to Marian.   
“We don’t know.” Robin muttered.   
“Did you take her to the hospital?”   
“No. We kept thinking it would pass. And-.” Robin shrugged. “What do we know about modern medicine anyway?”   
“Robin, you need to get her to a hospital.” Regina was looking at Marian, shaking her head. “Something is wrong with her.”   
Robin glanced from Regina to Marian, frowned and then nodded. He gathered Marian into his arms.   
“I’ll let you know.” Regina nodded.   
“Go.” She waited until they were gone with the door closed behind them. Then she hurried upstairs to begin gathering Katherine’s things. 

 

Charming opened the door and let her in. Emma and-surprisingly enough Hook-were sitting at the kitchen table.   
“Regina?” Snow was coming out of the bedroom with Neal. “What’s wrong?”   
“Something’s wrong with Marian.” Regina told them, putting Katherine’s bag down on the sofa.   
“And you care…?” Hook asked, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. Regina waved the question away.   
“What are you doing here anyway?”   
“He’s here to see me. Now what’s going on with Marian?” Emma brought her back on topic.   
She told them as best she knew-leaving out her discussion with Robin the night before. Everyone’s expression changed. But it was Hook who Regina was watching with the most curiosity. His expression told that he was thinking hard about something.   
“You have something you’d like to add?” Regina asked him directly. Hook looked at her and shook his head slowly.   
“Not quite yet, love.” Emma looked at him as well.  
“Do you know something about what could be wrong?”  
“I….” Hook hesitated. “I might have an idea. But it’s too soon. Not enough information. Don’t want to speculate.”   
“Speculating won’t hurt right now.” Emma told him, her expression indicating that she was ready to hear his thoughts. But Hook held firm.   
“Let’s see what the doctors come up with. Then we’ll discuss my theory. Use it as a last resort, so to say.”  
“We have to do something.” Regina was pacing, bouncing Katherine lightly in her arms.   
“Perhaps you should try staying out of it?” Hook suggested.   
“The way you two stayed out of it when you brought her back here in the first place?” Regina glared at him. “Hardly.”   
“I tried to tell her that it was not a good idea.” Hook gestured in Emma’s direction.   
“So you’re blaming me now?” Emma immediately turned on Hook.   
“All right, enough, all three of you.” Snow handed Neal over to Charming. “Regina, maybe Hook’s right and it is best for you to stay out.”   
Regina was silent for a moment. Katherine pulled her mother’s hair idly. Regina detangled one fist and looked back at Snow.   
“I can’t.”   
“Why not?” Charming asked. “It’s not exactly your place.” Snow laid her hand on his arm.   
“Why don’t you two stay here with Hook and the kids? Regina and I will go to the hospital, check things out.”   
“I’ll go.” Emma was getting up from the table.   
“Meet us there.” Snow gave her a look. “I’ll go with Regina.”   
Regina suspected she knew why. Snow was going to want to talk. They all knew that Snow was the only one in the room who had a chance of getting Regina to talk to her. And part of her was glad. Part of her did want to talk about it.   
“You stay here.” Regina said as Charming put Neal on the floor and took Katherine from her. “I trust you with my daughter more than him.” She motioned irritably towards Hook. 

“So are you going to tell me why this is so important to you?” Snow was sitting in the passenger seat of Regina’s car. Regina was staring blankly out the windshield, her hands limply on the wheel of the unmoving vehicle.   
“I guess.” Regina shrugged.   
“I thought you might.” Snow looked over at her. “So tell me, why is it so important for you to help Marian?”   
“Because I’m responsible for her death once already.” Regina murmured, still staring out the windows. “And-.”   
“And you feel guilty. So you want to make it up.” Regina thought and considered before she spoke. She was guilty-and it was the one thing she’d made sure not to mention to Robin in the last few weeks.  
“It’s not just that it’s Marian. It’s….” She shrugged, trailing off.   
“You know,” Snow began hesitantly, “I know you won’t want to hear this, especially from me….but there are other men out there. I know Robin is Katherine’s father. I know you loved him. But maybe, Regina, you should just let him go. It’s not good for you to put yourself what you have for the last year.”   
Regina shook her head.   
“It’s not that simple.”   
“Tell me why.”   
So she did. The entire story of pixie dust, and taverns, and tattoos, and soul mates poured out of her. By the time she was finished, Snow was staring at her opened mouth.   
“I had no idea.”   
“No, you didn’t. And now you’re only the fourth person to know. So let’s keep it that way.”   
“So you’re willing to do this? You’re willing to do something to help Robin even if it means bringing him and Marian back together?”   
Regina frowned and stared at her fingernails.   
“What if…when I didn’t go into that tavern, I lost my chance with him forever and now I’m paying that price? That what happened in the last year was just a fluke. That Marian returning was what was supposed to happen because she’s his true love. I forfeited my chance as his true love when I didn’t go into the tavern.”   
“True love doesn’t work like that. And you know as well as I do that pixie dust doesn’t lie.”   
“But Tinkerbell told me that I didn’t just ruin my life, I ruined his as well. Which I did-I took away the love of his life, destroyed his family.”   
Snow reached over and took Regina’s hand off of the wheel. She squeezed it tightly.   
“What you’re doing sounds like true love to me.” Regina didn’t look at her, just kept her gaze out the window.   
“Maybe it is. Either way, I owe it to him to help.”   
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Snow tightened her grip on her hand.   
“Yes.” Regina forced herself to say it and believe it. She was going to do this. She needed to do something. For Robin’s sake. For Roland’s. “Yes. Let’s go.”   
“Ok.” Snow let go of Regina’s hand. “Let’s go. You’re dr


	11. Chapter 11

“We don’t know what’s wrong.” Dr. Whale told her. “None of the doctors can tell what’s wrong with her.”   
“Do you think it’s something contagious?” Snow asked beside Regina. Whale frowned, shrugged. Regina turned to stare at her. There was a look of annoyance and disgust on her face.  
“That’s your question?” Whale ignored her and kept his focus on Snow.   
“Do I think the town is in danger? Most likely not.”   
“Most likely?” That caught Regina’s attention. “So you don’t know what’s wrong with her…but you don’t think it’s serious?”  
“We haven’t made an official diagnosis, so we don’t know what’s wrong. And really, that’s the most I can tell you.”  
“But-.”  
“Regina, I mean it. I’ve said too much already. I don’t care if you’re the mayor, the queen, whatever card you’re playing today won’t work.” He started to turn away when a voice called from down the hall.  
“He may know.” Emma was coming towards them with Hook behind her. Regina frowned at them, folding her arms over her chest.   
“I thought the great pirate wasn’t ready to talk.”   
“He’s going to tell us.” Emma looked at Hook. “Aren’t you?”   
“Don’t have much choice, do I?” Hook signed, turning his eyes towards the ceiling.   
“Do you know something?” Whale pushed past Regina and Snow. “Because anything you could tell us could be a huge help.”   
“I’ve never actually seen this happen,” Hook warned them, “so I’m not certain this is actually the case. But I’ve heard it can happen. There are rumors-stories-in our land that tell of it.” He looked over at Regina. “I’m surprised her Majesty hasn’t heard of it.”   
“What are you-?” Regina began but Whale shook his head.   
“Ok…..” Whale looked at him expectantly, nodding for him to continue.   
“One of the…stories…. About time travel is that the body wasn’t made to time leap-be it forward or backwards.” Hook explained, glancing from face to face. “So if someone moves in time, it changes their body.”   
“Wait…” Regina was beginning to catch on. A bell was going off in her head. This was familiar. Hook nodded.   
“Marian is from the past, her body was meant to stay in the past. Therefore, time is speeding up for her. Her body is trying to catch up with its new time. It’s moving too fast…aging her.”   
“Wait,” Snow held up her hand. She turned to Regina. “How come that didn’t happen to us in the curse?”   
“Because we traveled from present day Enchanted Forest to present day….here.” Regina motioned around them. “Plus, the curse froze time in the Enchanted Forest. Time didn’t start moving for us until the curse was broken, and it’s moving at the same speed in the Enchanted Forest.”   
“So there’s no risk for us.” Hook finished for her.   
For a moment, the crowd seemed to be silent. Then Snow spoke up again.   
“So what do we do?”   
“Far as I know, nothing.” Hook looked around. “I mean, we could attempt another time travel spell, return her to the past, but there’s not guarantee that will work. This….ringing any bells, your Majesty?”   
She’d never even thought about it. She’d heard about problems with time travel, but the biggest issue was that time travel didn’t work because no one was powerful enough to do it. Except Zelena.   
“I….can’t say for sure. Not without further research.”   
“So wait,” Emma looked at Hook, “have you known this could happen all along?” Hook looked uncomfortable with the question.   
“I knew it was a possibility. But what do I know about magic time travel spells?”   
“It might not have happened so quickly….” Regina thought out loud, “But if Zelena was powerful enough to do it, coming through a portal effected by her magic might have made things worse.”   
“Seriously?” Emma asked, her wide blue eyes concerned. Regina looked over at her, nodded.   
“Hook’s right. I never thought about it before, but unfortunately he’s onto something.”   
“And you never once, in the last year, thought to mention this to me?” Dr. Whale finally spoke up. “Or Marian? Or Robin?”   
“Well let’s face it, the thief never would have listened to me.” Hook smiled. “Doubting many of you would have, actually.”   
“So we didn’t actually save her.” Emma was staring off down the hallway, a dejected look crossing her face. “We just bought her another year.”  
“Yes, another year that interfered with everyone else’s life.” Regina shot towards her. “So thank you for making this situation successfully worse.”  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Emma was ignoring Regina to focus on Hook. “Why didn’t you tell me she was just going to die here anyway?”   
“Well, for one, I did tell you it was a bad idea. I did tell you bad things could happen from changing the past.” He reminded her. “But you were having none of that. And in second point, I didn’t think of that at the time. It was only when I found out Marian hadn’t been well that I began to suspect the rumors about time travel are true.”   
“Ok, that’s it. I think we’ve discussed this enough.” Dr. Whale held up his hands. “As much as I appreciate the help, this is not a subject that any of you are involved in. Now I think it would be best if all of you just stepped back, and got out of here.”   
“But-.” Snow stared at him.   
“Unless one of you,” he looked at Regina, “can come up with a magical remedy to stop this, there’s unfortunately nothing I can do.”   
“We’ll look.” Regina offered. It was the only suggestion she could offer. She didn’t know what to do herself. And she was kicking herself for not considering this sooner. Of course she’d heard this story about time travel. But time travel never worked, so no one thought or researched the effects of it. And with her pregnancy and then the baby, analyzing Marian’s condition hadn’t been at the top of her priorities.   
“What’s going on?” The group turned to see Robin standing behind them.   
“Get out.” Whale looked at the four. “It’s my place to tell him, not any of yours. Get out.”   
Regina opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it after the look on Robin’s face. She had never seen such grief on his face, on anyone’s face. And that hurt. A lot. 

 

She was seated on the couch in the Charmings’ living room. Katherine was asleep in the crook of her right arm. She’d been crying when Regina returned. Apparently Prince Charming did not have that desired effect on Katherine. A book of magic was in her left hand. It was not exactly helping the situation.   
Emma was seated in a chair on the other side of the room, another book of magic in her hands. She glanced up, towards Regina.   
“Anything?” Regina shook her head slowly.   
“Nothing. Not a thing. Well, I should rephrase…nothing we didn’t already know. As unfortunate as it may be, it appears Hook was right.” Regina raised her eyes and glanced at the pirate where he sat to Emma’s left.   
“It is an unfortunate situation.” Hook agreed, with a surprisingly sympathetic tone to his voice.   
“Actually, I meant the unfortunate part in regards to your being right.” Regina said, glancing down at Katherine.   
Emma snapped her book shut, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and blew out a deep breath. “Just makes me-.”   
“Makes you what?” Regina turned the page in her book without looking up. “Regret interfering in the past? Want to go back and try again? Decide that you can do it right this time and you really can save her? Because that’s your thing, Miss Swan?”   
“How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t know what was going to happen-.”  
“And didn’t think about what might happen.” Regina snapped back, finally looking up.   
“Ok, both of you!” Snow got up from where she’d been sitting at the table, crossing the room to join them. “This is not helping. Emma, you couldn’t save Marian. You tried, and that’s respectable, but you couldn’t do it. And Regina, she didn’t know what she was doing, and it wasn’t intentional against you. But to be fair, Robin’s the one who left you for Marian. Maybe your anger is just a little displaced in this one.”   
Regina would never, in a million years, admit that Snow was right. Instead, she closed her book and stood up. Crossing the room, she handed Katherine to Snow and then grabbed Emma’s book from her lap.   
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” 

 

“What now?” Dr. Whale looked weary when he saw her. “You’re not helping, Regina. You’re interfering.” Regina rolled her eyes at him and held out the two books she was carrying.   
“I brought you these. They have chapters on time travel. I thought they might help.” Whale took them, but suddenly his expression looked grim.   
“I found a book too. It had information as well.”   
“Anything useful?” Regina asked carefully. Whale glanced around the hallways, frowned, and motioned Regina to follow him.   
She followed him down the hallway to his office. Once inside, he closed the door. A book was already out on his desk. He flipped through it, handed it to her.   
“Here.” He pointed to a paragraph. “Read that.”   
Regina did. As she did, her eyes widened and a frown settled firmly over her lips. She looked up at Whale while handing him back the book.   
“What do you think?” Whale slipped a bookmark into the page of the book, closed it and replaced it on a shelf before responding to her.   
“I think we better hope that Marian didn’t bring anything else through that portal. For everyone’s sake.” 

 

She was just going to check on him, Regina convinced herself. While she was here, she was going to make sure Robin was ok. It was just the right thing to do, as a friend would do for anyone. He had a sick wife, his son was about to lose his mother. She just had to stop in and check that he was holding up all right.   
But when she reached the doorway, and she saw the scene before her, there was no going in for any reason. Robin sat beside the bed with Roland curled on his lap. One of his hands held Marian’s, and his eyes were glued to her face.   
Regina took a step back from the doorway, not noticing the tears that were forming in her eyes, when he spoke. His tone was so low, she almost missed it.   
“I’m so sorry, Marian. I’ll never love anyone like I loved you.”   
Regina left the hospital that night knowing that no matter what, she would never truly hold Robin’s heart.


	12. Chapter 12

Darkness hadn’t quite worn off the morning yet when Regina’s phone rang. She was still in her pajamas. Katherine had finished her bottle and settled into her swing to sleep for a quick morning nap.   
“Hello?” No one was calling this early without a reason.   
“It’s over.” Snow said.   
“What is?” Regina asked, walking into the kitchen.   
“David went out to get coffee early this morning, and he ran into Whale at the store. Marian’s dead.”   
Regina wasn’t sure she cared. She’d done a lot of thinking over the last two days earlier. She felt bad for Robin and Roland, but there was no hope or longing left in her anymore.   
“Regina?” Snow asked. “Are you still there?”   
“Yeah….yes…I’m here.” Regina snapped a K-cup into the Kuerig and filled it with water. “What do you want me to say?”   
Now it was Snow’s turn to be quiet.   
“I….just thought you’d want to know.”   
“I did. Thank you.” Regina pressed a button on the machine. She heard the gurgling of it starting up.   
“Are you going to go to the funeral?”   
“No.” Her answer was immediate. It appeared to have startled Snow. “Do you think I should?” She suddenly thought to question.   
“I….guess you could.” Snow shrugged. “I mean, as a friend, as a part of this town, it would be good.”   
“It would also be incredibly awkward.” Regina responded, pulling her now full cup off of the coffee maker. “What grieving widower doesn’t want his ex girlfriend and mother of his child at his wife’s funeral?”   
“You’re making it sound worse when you say it like that.”   
“It is what it is, Snow. I’m not going. That’s that.” 

She didn’t go, but Snow and Charming came over after the funeral a day later.   
“You’ve been cooped up in this house for four days now.” Snow had intercepted Katherine as soon as she’d come through the door. “Everything all right?”   
“I didn’t realize my social life was such an issue for everyone. I’m beginning to miss the days with no one cared where I was or how I spent my time.”   
“I’ll take that as a no.” Snow nuzzled Katherine’s forehead. “She’s so big, Regina. How is she getting so big?”  
“I don’t know.” Regina smiled genuinely and shook her head. “So how was the service?”   
“As far as funeral’s go, I guess it was fine.” David was sitting in one of the living room chairs. “Roland was obviously pretty upset.”   
“Obviously.” Regina nodded. “It’s a shame. That’s got to be hard on such a little boy.”   
“You don’t want to know how Robin is?”   
“I don’t want to know how Robin is.” Regina dropped a handful of Katherine’s toys into a basket to try and declutter the room. It wasn’t that Katherine necessarily played with her toys-she was still too young for that. But Regina enjoyed having the toys out to catch Katherine’s attention and get her interested in them. Regina was beginning to plan a room she could turn into a playroom. How hard could it be to move the study upstairs and change the current one into a playroom?   
“You didn’t do something crazy, did you?” Snow asked suspiciously. Regina frowned and dropped a plastic toy dog into the basket. The dog’s collar lit up and it made a high pitched whining sound.   
“You want to define “something crazy”?”   
“I just…. This is so….”   
“What do you want me to say?” Regina asked. “That I’m glad Marian’s dead? That I’m about to head off and throw myself and Katherine into Robin’s arms? Hardly. I feel bad that Marian is dead for Robin and Roland’s sake, but that’s it. Otherwise, I don’t care. As far as not having done something crazy, I’ve been here the last three days playing with my daughter. I haven’t done anything except pick up toys and do laundry. Happy?”   
Snow and Charming looked at each other. Charming shrugged at his wife. Neither of them seemed to know what to make of the situation.   
“Obviously our conversation had little impact on you after all.” Snow sighed, rubbing Katherine’s back.   
“Put it out of my mind, dear.” Regina dropped down onto the couch. “I’m done with this, Snow. All of it. Katherine and Henry are officially my only focuses now.”   
Snow didn’t say anything. Regina took the opportunity to remind her of something else.   
“Aren’t you the one who said Robin did leave me for Marian?” Snow looked up at her, opened her mouth to speak but Regina shook her head no. “I’m tired of this, Snow.”   
“I was just going to say,” Snow sighed heavily, looked down at Katherine, “that I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. No one does.” 

 

“Regina?” Tinkerbell looked surprised to see her. “What are you doing here?”   
“I only have a minute. May I come in?” Tinkerbell nodded and stepped aside for Regina to enter the room the fairy was staying in at Granny’s2.   
“How are you? I haven’t seen you in a few days and you didn’t return any of my calls. I was worried about you.”  
“I’m sorry.” Regina apologized-and meant it. She was surprised how much concern there had been for her over the last week. Apparently now, if Regina decided to become a recluse people noticed-and cared. “I just needed some time alone.”   
“Are you ok?” The fairy questioned, concern showing in her eye. Regina nodded and gave her a strong smile.  
“I’m fine. I just came here to thank you.”   
“Oh?” Regina heard the excitement in the other woman’s voice and saw Tinkerbell’s face light up. “Regina, does that mean-?” Regina held up her hand to stop Tink from speaking.   
“If it wasn’t for what you told me, I never would have given Robin a chance.”   
“So you two-?” Tinkerbell was practically beaming now.   
“No.” Regina shook her head. “I am done with that particular chapter of my life.”   
Tinkerbell’s face fell. She frowned, shaking her head.   
“Regina, when are you going to learn-.”   
“It doesn’t matter.” Regina shook her head firmly. “I had a chance once with Robin, and I lost it. We could have been happy together, I realize that now. And even though I lost him again we still had something good. And now I have Katherine because of it.”   
Tinkerbell sighed and covered her face with her hands. She sighed heavily in exhaustion or frustration Regina wasn’t really sure.   
“Regina, he is your-.”   
“Stop.” Regina told her. “I’m not upset about it. I’m not sad. I’m ok with how things worked out between us because now I have Katherine. She was the best thing that ever came out of that relationship.”   
“I’m happy for you.” Tinkerbell sounded sad. “I’m happy for you if you’ve come to happiness on your own, but I wish you’d stay open to a possibility with Robin.”   
“I won’t.” Regina smiled. “But I am happy now.” 

 

“Your Majesty.” Little John met her first, motioning over his shoulder to Robin who was crossing to join them.   
“Little John.” Regina folded her arms over her chest. She wasn’t that interested in having a conversation with him. She wanted to talk to Robin and get out of here.   
“Go on.” Robin nodded to Little John. “Keep an eye on Roland.”   
Once Little John was gone, Robin turned to face her.   
“Regina, I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning to come over, but this week has been-.” Regina held up her hand and shook her head.   
“Stop. Just let me talk, ok?”   
“It’s just-. I haven’t meant to ignore you and Katherine. With Marian dying-.”   
“Robin, stop.” Regina sighed. “Please. Let me.” Robin nodded.   
“I’m sorry.” Which part he was sorry for, Regina didn’t know and didn’t care. She was going to say what she came here to say.   
“I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been thinking-a lot-and I don’t want you to be concerned about me.”   
“I’m not sure I’m-.”   
“I’m not expecting anything from you, Robin. And I don’t think I want anything anymore. Katherine and I aren’t some sort of consolation prize because you can’t have her, and your family with her. I won’t do that to her, or to myself.” Robin took a deep breath, and Regina saw deep sadness in his eyes.   
“Where is this coming from?”   
“Doesn’t matter.” Regina shook her head. “It’s over between us, it has been for a long time now. I’m not going to keep you from Katherine, that’s not fair to either of you. But I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us. We just need to be parents to our daughter.”   
She stared at him for a moment. Robin held her gaze.   
“Can I talk now?” Regina rolled her eyes.   
“Of course.” Robin sighed heavily and pressed a hand to his temple.   
“Over the past year, I have gotten extremely tired of your seemingly endless lectures on how everyone gets to play by the rules you have established with regard to what you and only you want. I get it-that’s how you live your life, and you assume everyone else will go along with it.”   
Regina glared at him and opened her mouth. Robin shook his head.   
“Wait.”   
Regina frowned but closed her mouth.   
“But in this case, I can’t deny that the idea of not having the guilt that I’m continually hurting you hanging over my head seems….refreshing.”   
Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady her nerves.   
“I’m not going along with this just because I want to be another pawn in your game to get what you want, I’m doing it because I can’t possibly handle anything else right now. Roland is heartbroken because he just lost his mother-again. I’m now faced with the struggle of getting past my own loss-again-and getting him past his. I can’t promise you anything right now, Regina. And I don’t know when, or if, I’ll ever be able to.”   
“I understand.” Regina nodded. “It’s partially why I’m here. I can’t do this to myself anymore. I can’t keep dreaming, hoping, that something will change between us. I can’t put myself through it anymore. And I won’t be a reasonable second choice because you can’t have Marian. I’m no one’s second choice.”   
Robin chuckled. He gave her a faint smile.   
“You are certainly not that. And you deserve better than what I can give you right now.”   
“So we understand each other?” Regina asked cautiously. “Nothing else needs to be said?”   
“No, we are on the same page.” Robin assured her. “Can I come and see Katherine tomorrow? I don’t want to lose what I’ve reached with her.”   
“Come when you want.” Regina agreed. “Bring Roland, if you want. We don’t have to tell him anything. Maybe some day, we will.”   
“Some day, when he doesn’t have to come to terms with his mother’s death for the second time.” Robin bit his lip, gazing deeper into the woods. “A new baby sister is too much for him right now.”   
“Agreed.” Regina looked towards the camp. “How is he?”   
“Not sleeping, barely eating, cries frequently. I’m going to go with in general, not well.”   
“Poor thing.” Regina felt for the boy. She wished there was more she could do for him. “The distraction might do him well.”   
“It might. I’ll bring him. So be prepared for a five year old too.” Regina laughed.   
“All right. Then I will see you two tomorrow.”   
“See you tomorrow.” Robin gave her another smile that was faintly too apologetic for her liking. He turned and went back into the camp.   
Regina turned on her heel and headed back towards town. She wanted to be sad, wanted to feel bad about what she had just given up on, but she didn’t. She was relieved. She had finally made a conscious effort to put herself past her pain. She wondered if she’d done it years ago if things would have turned out differently for her. It didn’t matter now. She was focusing on her children now.   
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and dialed Henry’s number.


	13. Chapter 13

One month later:

The spring wind was flinging rain against the diner windows. Outside, it was warm but there was still a chill in the air. It surprised no one who had spent real time in Maine. Lately, it had been raining regularly, so the fact it was only spitting tonight was a step in the right direction.  
“That’s it. I’m going home.” Regina exclaimed in a combination of frustration and exhaustion.   
“Can’t say I blame you.” Snow gave her a sympathetic look. “Katie is not buying this.”   
“Not at all.” Regina sighed, looking down at her screaming daughter in Snow’s arms.   
Regina had not had much interest in coming to Granny’s spring open house that evening. Katherine had been fussy all day, and it had been raining on and off for the majority of the daylight hours before drifting into tonight’s drizzle. But when Katherine had decided to nap late in the afternoon, Regina decided they could go until Katherine woke up-which was twenty minutes after they had walked in the door. Katherine had cried non stop ever since.   
“I’m going home where Katherine can scream in the privacy of her own house.” Regina pulled on her coat. “If Robin gets here, tell him we left.”   
“Tell him yourself, he just walked in.” Snow nodded towards the doorway. Regina turned and saw Robin had just entered with Little John and Roland. He glanced around and when he saw her, he initially smiled before noticing Katherine’s cries. His smile instantly faded into a frown. He crossed the diner to them.   
“What’s wrong here?” He cooed, reaching for Katherine.   
“Yes, you try. None of the rest of us have had any luck.” Regina sighed, wondering if she looked as exhausted as she felt.   
“Katie what’s wrong, sweetheart?” Robin asked, holding Katherine’s forehead against his. Katherine’s crying didn’t slow. Regina shook her head.   
“She’s been fussy all day. I thought she might sleep tonight. But ever since she woke up, she’s cried. I’m taking her home.”   
“I’ll come with you.” Robin turned to her. Regina waved him away.   
“You don’t have to.”   
“I know I don’t, but I want to. There’s no need for you to be alone with a crying infant all night.” He smiled at her before handing Katherine back to her. “I just need to tell Little John I’m leaving so he can keep an eye on Roland.”   
He disappeared into the crowd. Snow looked up at Regina and shrugged.   
“It’s not a bad idea. You could probably use the help tonight-even if just for some additional sanity.” She looked momentarily amused. “Besides, you two seem to have been getting along well.”   
“Shut up.” Regina wrapped her scarf around her neck and put Katherine into her car seat. “We’re two parents who made an agreement to get along for our daughter’s sake-that’s all.”   
“That explains why everyone’s talking about you and Jefferson having lunch the other day.”   
“For the last time,” Regina grumbled, “we were not having lunch. Grace is old enough to babysit. I wanted to talk to him about her sitting for Katherine every now and then. That’s it.”   
“You’re pretty adamant about that. For someone who isn’t interested in Robin.”   
“See this?” Regina motioned to Katherine. “I wouldn’t even be talking to the man if not for her.”   
But it was true. She and Robin had stuck to their agreement and were getting along very well. He regularly brought Roland over, and they were all getting along together. Regina had to admit it was just as refreshing as she wanted it to be. Without the threat of a relationship hanging over their heads, they could be just…friends.   
“All right,” Robin returned to Regina’s side, “are you two ready to go?”   
“Absolutely.” Regina handed Katherine’s car seat to him. 

 

When they reached the house, Katherine had dozed a bit in the car. It was enough to keep her quiet, save for a few whimpers and whines.   
“If you wake that child, I swear I will curse you straight back to the Enchanted Forest.” Regina warned Robin as she took off her coat.   
“I will do my best.” Robin whispered as he carefully put the carrier down. “Besides, I don’t think you could do it if you tried.”   
“Care to risk it?” Regina put both their coats into the closet.   
“Not particularly.” Regina smiled and leaned down to take Katherine out of her car seat.   
“Come here, darling.” She lifted her daughter into her arms.   
“We get her home and the crying stops.” Robin folded his arms over his chest. “Something tells me she just didn’t want to go to the party tonight.”   
“Most likely true,” Regina agreed, “but she’s feverish now.” She stroked her hand over the baby’s forehead. “Let’s go take a look.”   
She motioned Robin to follow her upstairs. In the hallway bathroom, Regina rummaged in the linen closet until she found the ear thermometer she’d purchased when Katherine was born, but never had a reason to use. She quickly skimmed over the instructions before slipping the thermometer into Katherine’s ear. She pressed a button the side, waiting for it to click.  
“Fascinating.” Robin shook his head. “The technology in this world never fails to amaze me.”   
“That’s an improvement since even when Henry was a baby.” Regina kissed the side of Katherine’s head. The thermometer beeped. She took it out and read it. “100 even, Katherine. Nicely done.”   
“Was she running a fever earlier?” Robin laid a hand on the back of Katherine’s head. Regina rolled her eyes at him.   
“Please. Do you think I would have taken her out with a fever? No. Well, at least not one that was registering until now. Poor thing.” Regina nuzzled Katherine’s head. Katherine made a whimpering sound against her mother’s shoulder.   
“Now who’s getting cursed?” Robin asked. There was amusement sparkling in his eye. “Do we need to take her to the hospital now?”   
Regina handed the baby to him. Opening the medicine cabinet, she rummaged through until she found an unopened bottle of infant fever drops.   
“I don’t think so. She’s four months old, so she can have a little of these. But if it isn’t gone in the morning, or if it gets worse, we’ll have to take her. Here, bring her closer to me.”  
Robin turned the baby to her, and Regina carefully fit the dropper into her daughter’s lips. Katherine pulled back, but Regina got most of the medicine into her daughter’s mouth.   
“It’s ok, darling.” Robin kissed the top of Katherine’s head as he rocked her. “It’ll be good for you.”   
“Yes, it’s all right.” Regina wiped medicine residue off of Katherine’s face with a washcloth. “Here, give her to me.”   
Robin consented. Regina smiled as Katherine resumed crying. It was crying that was lesser than when they’d been out, but it was crying nonetheless. The baby’s hand searched over the crew neckline of Regina’s dress and cried harder.   
“I’m sorry, that’s my fault.” Regina left the bathroom and took Katherine into her nursery. Taking a clean blanket out of the dresser, she draped it over her shoulder. Katherine instantly latched one hand into it.   
“What’s that about?” Robin was standing in the doorway.   
“Katherine prefers to sleep holding onto something.” Regina explained as she turned to him. “Typically it’s the collar of my shirt, but this dress doesn’t have one she can hold. Hence the blanket.”   
“And she’s not spoiled a bit.” Robin grinned. Regina ignored him. Something was still missing that would keep Katherine quiet, so she went downstairs. In the draining rack on the sink was a collection of pacifiers. She selected a pink one and offered it to Katherine. The baby didn’t hesitate, quickly drawing it into her mouth, lips working immediately.   
“There we go, princess.” Regina murmured, watching as Katherine sucked peacefully on the pacifier, her blue eyes falling closed. “Go to sleep.” A soft chuckle from the doorway caught her attention. Regina looked up to see Robin leaning against the doorframe.   
“Anyone with that type of motherly touch could never be considered evil.” Regina glanced down at Katherine before giving Robin a slow smile.   
“Long before her. Long before both of my children.” She slipped passed him into the living room. She settled on the couch, careful not to wake Katherine. Robin moved into the room and held out his arms.   
“Want me to take her upstairs?”   
“No, she’s fine.” Regina smiled, running her knuckles down Katherine’s back. Robin shook his head, a knowing smile on his face. They both understood she wouldn’t be putting the baby down anytime soon.   
“Well, compared to how it looked earlier, that was relatively easy.”   
“Yes.” Regina nodded. “You can go back to Roland and the party if you want. Katherine and I will be fine here.” Robin shrugged.   
“I’m already here. And Little John’s with Roland. So there’s no need to rush. Care for a drink?”   
“Why is it always a drink with you?” Regina smiled at him over Katherine’s head. Robin gave her a look of mock confusion, lifting his hands.   
“Maybe that’s just one of the things I’m good at. Do you want to join me or am I drinking alone?” Regina considered for a moment, and then nodded.   
“One shouldn’t hurt anything.” Robin headed towards her study where she kept her liquor cabinet and wine refrigerator.   
“What are you in the mood for?”   
“Nothing too strong.”   
“Fair enough.” She heard glasses rattling. It made her smile to herself that he still knew her house so well.   
Robin returned, carrying two glasses that were slightly less than half full with red wine. He handed one to her, and then let his hand linger on Katherine’s head.   
“Is she anything like Henry was as a baby?” Regina sipped her wine, considered for a moment.   
“A bit. She cries less than he did, sleeps a little bit better. Who knows if it’s a personality thing, or a boy/girl thing.”   
“Roland slept well as a baby. Even though it was much, much harder to get a baby to sleep in the Enchanted Forest.”   
“I can only imagine.” Regina laid her forehead against the top of Katherine’s head for a moment. “I’m glad she’ll never experience it.”   
“Maybe she’ll want to go someday.” Robin smiled. “Maybe she’ll want to see it.”   
“Too bad.” Regina pressed her lips to the baby’s head. Robin shook his head and put down his wine glass.   
“Why don’t I take her upstairs before we wake her?”   
“She’s fine.” Regina glared at him. Robin made a sound of amusement that indicated he’d known the answer he was going to get.   
“She can’t sleep there all night.”   
“I’m up for the challenge if she is.” Regina countered, putting her wine glass down and pressing her hand protectively to Katherine’s back. “What time is Little John dropping Roland off?”   
“I told him 10 if Roland will last that long.” He glanced at the clock. “It’s still early. Do you want me to stay tonight? Just in case something else goes wrong. Roland would be all right with Little John just for tonight.”  
“No, no, we’ll be fine.” Regina shook her head probably a little too empathetically. “I think it’ll pass   
“What do you think it is?” Regina was relieved when he switched the topic away from his hanging around all night.   
“Maybe her ears. Lots of children her age have ear problems. Or maybe a cold. Probably nothing more.” Regina looked over at him. “Diseases are a lot easier to handle in this world.”   
“I imagine. There seem to be a lot more though.”   
“Oh I don’t know about that. We just have different names for the same illnesses. What we called a sore throat, they call Strep Throat here. What we called a chill, they call the Common Cold.”   
“Fair point. Regardless, I hope it’s nothing worse.”   
“I’m sure it isn’t.” 

 

They chatted for a bit longer. Robin continued to try to get Regina to put Katherine down, Regina continued to refuse. Katherine’s fever stayed down, much to the relief of both of her parents. She slept uninterrupted on her mother’s chest.   
It was just after nine when there was a knock at the front door. Robin looked from the door to the clock.   
“Guessing he didn’t make it as long as I thought he might.” Regina laughed as he got up to get the door.   
“It’s fine. It probably is time to put Katherine into her bed.”   
“I told you so.” Robin pulled the front door open. “Uh oh, what’s this?”   
Regina noted that his voice went from fatherly affection to concern fairly quickly.   
“Said he wasn’t feeling well.” Regina turned to see Little John putting Roland into Robin’s arms. Robin looked nervously at Regina.   
“Oh no.” She sighed, getting off the couch. “Not another one.”   
“Apparently so.” Robin pulled back to look at Roland’s face. “What’s wrong, Roland?”   
Roland made a whimpering sound and pressed his face into his father’s throat.   
“Said his throat hurt.” Little John shook his head, clearly not sure what to do with a sick child. Regina clicked her tongue and shook her head.   
“Never should have mentioned Strep Throat. Let me put Katherine down and I’ll be back.” She nodded to Little John. “Good night, John.”   
“Good night, you-r-Regina.” 

With Katherine safely settled into bed, Regina returned to help Robin tend to their second sick child of the evening. From the medicine cabinet, she produced a bottle of children’s aspirin.   
“Does it taste bad?” Roland raised his head from Robin’s shoulder. He was running a fever of 100.2. Regina wasn’t surprised he wasn’t feeling well.  
“Well, it’s supposed to taste like grape.” Regina smiled at him. “Henry never minded it.” She read the dosage instructions and shook one into her hand. “You just chew it like candy.”   
That seemed to get his attention. Roland took it from her palm in his small fingers. He popped it into his mouth and chewed.   
“Well?” Robin asked.   
“It’s not as good as candy.” Roland frowned. “And it makes my mouth feel funny. Can I have a drink?”   
Both adults laughed. Regina reached out, smoothing Roland’s hair off of his forehead.   
“Of course.” He drank some water before curling into Robin. Robin paced the downstairs for a bit, rocking and soothing his son.   
“Should he have one or two of those?” He asked, coming back into the kitchen with Regina.   
“For his age group, only one for now.” Regina told him as calmly as she could. “We should probably take him to the doctor’s in the morning just to make sure he doesn’t need something stronger. I mean-you should.”   
“No, I definitely liked it better when you said ‘we’.” Robin looked at her over Roland’s shoulder. Before Regina could protest, he continued. “You know more about ‘modern medicine’ and sick children in this world than I do. I need your help with this.”   
Regina bit her lower lip for a moment. She had such a soft spot for Roland she couldn’t say no. Besides, he’d lost his own mother. He needed her too.   
“If Katherine is still feverish in the morning, we should take her too.”   
“Makes sense why both of us have to go.”   
“I’m not arguing.” Regina smiled at him. Robin returned it and a sense she hadn’t felt in a few months returned. Marian was dead now, there was nothing stopping her this time-.   
Regina shook her head to clear the thoughts. She had to remind herself that if she did go through with that, she was nothing more than a second choice to his true love. And besides, they had two children running fevers-one who was barely four months old. They had to take care of them. Just like good parents should…..  
“You can’t take him back to the woods tonight.” Regina spoke to stop thinking. “He can sleep here and you can come back in the morning-if you want.”   
“You think I’m leaving him?” Robin asked in the same tone she’d heard herself use regularly when someone suggested she leave Katherine for a period of time. “That’s a terrible idea. If Katherine gets worse you’ll have a screaming infant and a sick four year old crying for his father. I’ll sleep in the guest room with him.”  
“I would do exactly the same in your position.” Regina laid her hand on Roland’s back. “You should put him down before he wakes up.”   
“Good idea. Or should I give you the answer you gave me with Katherine all night?”   
“Shut up.” Regina grumbled as she went into the living room. She heard him chuckling as he went up the stairs. Quickly, she scooped up the empty wine glasses and carried them into the kitchen. The dishwasher was only half full. She’d run it in the morning.   
From upstairs, Katherine’s cries started fresh. Regina walked into the foyer and waited a moment.   
“Regina!” Robin called downstairs. “You might want to come up here.”


	14. Chapter 14

Regina forced her eyes open and stared groogily at the bedroom ceiling. She was lying on top of her covers, dressed in a pair of light blue pajama pants and a white tank top she’d yanked over her black bra. She suspected there were still traces of makeup clinging to her face. Her head ached and her body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.   
It had been a truly hellish night. Katherine was definitely going to the doctor’s today. Her fever, despite subsiding, had returned. She had cried almost all night. Roland had woken up at random hours, calling for water and complaining of how badly his throat hurt.   
Regina was glad Robin was in the house. When Roland slept, he took Katherine from her arms so she could at least compose herself. It had been awhile since she had had a screaming infant. And Regina knew that no matter how much a mother loved her child, constant crying weighed heavily on a person. On top of that, she was worried. It was Katherine’s first ailment. It was a big event for any child, and given that Regina could not identify what was causing the fever, the entire night was more stressful.   
Regina pushed herself out of bed. She made herself go downstairs. In the kitchen, she blindly flipped on the coffee pot. She needed something to get rid of this horrible headache.   
“Did you sleep at all?” Robin asked, coming into the kitchen. He’d been sleeping in the guest room next to Roland as much as possible. When Katherine finally cried herself to sleep at 4:30, they’d agreed to try and sleep if they could.  
“I fell asleep around 5. What time is it now?”   
“7:15.”   
“There you go. Is Roland asleep?”   
“For now. He’s only been out about a half an hour though.”   
“I thought he feel asleep awhile ago.”   
“He woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Cried about his throat for awhile, and then wanted to know my theories as to what was wrong with him.” He pulled two mugs out of the cabinet. Regina was leaning on the counter, holding her head in one hand. “Yeah, mine hurts too.” Regina looked up at him and groaned.   
“Don’t you dare say that. You might be implying we’re catching whatever they have.” The thought apparently hadn’t dawned on Robin until that moment. His face showed his horror.   
“What do you think it is?”   
“My personal vote? Strep throat. Sore throat, fever. Explains why Katherine won’t eat.” Katherine wouldn’t nurse or take a bottle all night. Regina was rather impressed she’d stopped screaming given the circumstances. Exhaustion was a powerful master.  
“Is it bad?” Regina shook her head, pouring coffee into the mugs.   
“No. They run a quick test, then send them home with an antibiotic. Henry had it a few times. It goes away quickly.”  
Robin breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Regina knew how he felt. This world was frightening before you truly understood how it worked. But illnesses were much less deadly here.   
Robin was rubbing his eyes, his coffee untouched on the counter beside him.   
“Do you might if I take a shower? It might make me feel slightly more human right now.” Regina waved him towards the stairs.   
“Go to it.”   
Robin had barely turned towards the stairs when the baby’s cries filled the silence. At that exact moment, there was a pounding from the front door.   
“You get more visitors…..” Robin shook his head.   
“You get the baby and take your shower. I’ll get the door and get rid of whoever it is.” She pushed passed him. He followed, passing her to take the stairs two at a time while Regina pulled open the front door. On the other side revealed a very serious looking Charming, and an extremely concerned looking Emma.   
“Whatever it is,” Regina held up her hand, “now is not a good time.”   
“It can’t wait.” Charming pushed passed her into the house. “We need to talk to you. Now.”   
“Do you,” Emma stepped inside after her father and closed the door, “do you need to get the baby?” Regina shook her head.   
“Robin’s with her.”   
“Good, we were hoping he was here.” Charming’s eyes moved towards the sound of the baby’s cries.   
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Regina snapped. Exhaustion and a visit from the Charming family was not a good combination for her. What little patience she had for them was not active at the moment. And frankly, whatever they were here for, she didn’t care. She only cared about the children.  
“Please Regina, half the town saw you two leaving together.” Emma rolled her eyes. “And Little John knew he was bringing Roland here. It was safe to assume-.”   
“We don’t have time for this.” Charming cut her off with a look. “Regina, Snow and Neal have the measles.”   
“What?” Regina gasped, her face showing its shock. “How did she get that?”   
“Whale said you knew.” Charming stared at her. “He said he told you.”   
“What? That’s crazy. I haven’t talked to Whale since-.” Regina caught her breath. “Oh.”   
“What’s going on?” Robin appeared on the stairs, minus Katherine, which surprised Regina.   
“Snow has the measles.” Regina answered.   
“And Regina knows something she isn’t saying.” Charming glared at her.   
“Oh would you stop?” Regina returned his dark glare. “What I know doesn’t make a huge difference. Whale could have told you.”   
“Would you both stop?!” Emma exclaimed. “People are sick, Regina. There’s a few cases in the hospital.”   
“How did this get into town?” Charming demanded. “ How Regina? What did you do?”   
“Yes, because I brought the measles into town. That’s exactly what I did-set out to destroy Storybrooke with an illness that would have killed everyone in the Enchanted Forest.” Regina rolled her eyes and gave Charming a disgusted look.  
She heard Robin move down the stairs to stand behind her, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder. She kept her glare on Charming.   
“Who do you know who might have been exposed to measles in another land that was recently in Storybrooke?”   
The room fell silent. Then Charming’s eyes moved to Emma.   
“Me?!” Emma gasped. “I couldn’t have brought it back with me. Everyone would have been sick by now.”   
“Not you.” Regina grumbled. “Someone whose system was weaker. Someone whose body couldn’t handle this time.” Behind her, Regina heard Robin’s breath exhale.   
“Marian.”   
“Marian.” Regina nodded.   
“How?” Charming now looked more confused than angry. “Marian didn’t die of measles.”   
“No, Marian died of her system not being able to handle time travel.” Regina reminded him. “But do you remember the night we were reading magic books to try and find a way to save her?”   
“And you took both books and stormed out? Yeah, I recall.” Emma answered quickly. Regina was too tired to argue.   
“I went to the hospital to take the books to Whale. He had found a book of his own. The book explained that normally, people who are exposed to time travel hold out for several years. But those whose aging process and death speeds up is because they were exposed to another aliment before time traveling.”   
Again, silence. Regina couldn’t look at Robin. She didn’t want to see the hurt on his face.   
“Marian was exposed to measles.” He finally said behind her. Regina nodded without turning around.   
“Do you remember anyone who might have-.” She finally looked back at him. He shook his head sadly.   
“It’s been so long. And there were so many diseases in the Enchanted Forest. It could have been anyone.”   
“It doesn’t matter.” Emma waved him away. “People have been exposed, and they’re sick.”   
“But why didn’t anyone catch it a year ago when we first came back?” Emma asked the question, and Regina thought it was valid.   
“That I’m not sure of-exactly.” Regina thought. “Perhaps because the exposure was so long ago, her body fought it until it started to break down from her death. It worked like a natural blocker, for awhile.”   
“And delayed the illness until her body couldn’t fight it anymore.” Charming added. Regina nodded.   
“Like I said, I’m not sure. But it’s the only logical solution how it could work.” She hadn’t thought much about that conversation with Wale since it had originally occurred. Marian’s death had seemed to be a pretty done deal. She hadn’t thought about anything holding on. But apparently it had. It had been living in their systems for the last month, and now it was spreading.   
“So anyone who hasn’t already had it, or been vaccinated, is at risk.” Emma sighed. “So that means pretty much…everyone.”   
“Anyone who was born in the Enchanted Forest, and never had them, they’re at risk.” Regina searched her brain for more information. “We didn’t have vaccines there.”   
“Henry was vaccinated?” Emma asked hopefully.   
“He was vaccinated as a baby.” Regina recalled. “But Neal-.”   
“Whale thinks he was too young, and had only had one set of the shots.” Charming sighed heavily. “But Regina-.”   
“Oh no.” The realization hit her at the same time. “No. No.”   
“Katherine.” Robin whispered. Tears sprang to Regina’s eyes and she pressed her hand to her mouth. She wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or throw up, maybe both.   
“No.” She closed her eyes.   
“Has she-?” Charming began but Regina shook her head frantically.   
“She’s too little. They don’t give those until at least a year. She’s-. She can’t-.”   
“Roland too?” Emma was looking passed Regina to Robin.   
“He was born in the Enchanted Forest. What do you think?” Regina glared at her. Beside her, Robin looked unsure what to do.   
“He’s sick.” Robin said helplessly. “He’s just….sick.”   
“Why aren’t you sick?” Regina stared at Charming.   
“Because I almost died of them when I was five.” Charming informed her. “And they’re awful. What about you two?” Regina shook her head, unable to grasp the horror of this situation.   
“I wasn’t sick much. I would have remembered.”   
“The same.” Robin murmured. “I don’t recall ever having had them.”   
“Do you both feel ok?” Emma looked more concerned than Regina was ok with.   
“I’m just tired, I’m fine.” Regina hoped she was right. But Robin was silent, and then shook his head.   
“I don’t feel….good. It might just be exhaustion as well.”   
“Let’s hope.” Charming sighed. “Look, you two need to get the kids and come with us. They need to see a doctor-and it wouldn’t hurt either of you as well.”   
“Ok.” Emma nodded anxiously. “So we’re getting the kids together, and then we’re going.”   
Regina made it to the top of the stairs before her emotions caught up with her. She stopped and wrapped her arms around her chest. She felt Robin’s arms around her. She turned into his embrace, forgot everything else and just let him hold her.   
“Regina, it’s going to be all right.” He told her, rubbing her back gently. “The doctor is going to look at the children, tell us it’s nothing, and we’ll be home in no time.”   
Neither of them was saying it, but they both thought it. Measles had wiped out entire villages in their land. But this was a different land, with different medicine. What happened in the Enchanted Forest didn’t matter here.   
“But Katherine-.” Regina whispered, taking a step back from him.   
“She’s going to be fine.” Robin pushed her hair back from her face. “You’re exhausted. Why don’t we get the children to the hospital, and then I’ll stay with them? You can come home and get some sleep.” Regina shook her head.   
“I am not leaving them. You can come home and get some sleep, and I’ll stay.”   
“Guys!” Emma called up the stairs. “We don’t have time to worry about who’s going or staying. Get the kids and come on.” Robin set his jaw, gave Regina’s arm a quick squeeze.   
“I’ll get Roland. You get Katherine.”   
In the nursery, Regina looked down at her sleeping daughter. She pressed her hands to her face, closing her eyes.   
Marian had brought measles into the town, and most likely infected all of them. Her daughter, if nothing else, had at least been exposed. And if the worst happened, and Katherine died, her blood was on Marian’s hands.   
“Marian, you’ve taken everything else. You can’t have my daughter too.”

 

Regina could do nothing but pace the hospital room they’d been settled into. Katherine was fussing in her arms. She had silently hoped walking the baby might quiet her, but it was no avail. She was running a fever again, and Regina was hesitant to give her anything else.   
“Regina.” Robin was sitting on the bed, holding a dozing Roland on his lap. “Please sit down.”   
“I’m trying to get her to-.”   
“It’s not working.” Robin told her gently, but she could hear the exasperation in his tone. “You’d do better to sit down with her.”   
In other words, she was driving him crazy. Regina couldn’t deny she wasn’t helping Katherine, so she sat down at the end of the bed.   
“What the hell is taking Whale so long?” She glared towards the doorway again.  
“Try and calm down.” Robin reached over and squeezed her hand. “He’ll get here. You know how many people they have.”   
It was true. There were entirely too many people here. It made Regina nervous. Just how many were sick? The entire town had been exposed. She tried not to think about it right now. Her focus had to be on the children.   
Robin was rubbing the back of his neck. Regina looked at him suspiciously.   
“What’s wrong?”   
“Nothing. I’m just tired, that’s all.”   
“Are you sure?”   
“Yes, Regina, I’m sure. Let it go, ok?”   
She did, only because she was tired too. Regina rubbed her temples wearily.   
“I’m just so worried.” She looked over at him. “About both of them. About us.”   
“You can’t worry. You’ll make yourself sick.”   
“We might be already.” Regina looked down at Katherine and sighed. “Darling, please. It’s all right.” She bounced the baby in her arms. “Mama’s here. Mama’s right here.”   
She looked up and met Robin’s eyes. He shook his head, looking down at Roland.   
“At least you don’t have to live with knowing that you gave it to both of them.”   
“Robin,” Regina sighed, “you can’t think like that.”   
“Oh, I can. Maybe not Roland, but Katherine. Katherine for sure. She wasn’t around Marian. There’s only one person who could have spread it to her.”   
“You didn’t know.” Regina laid her hand on his arm. “You had no way of knowing you’d been exposed to anything.”   
“Makes it slightly less painful.” He frowned, stroking Roland’s hair off of his forehead. “But not much.”  
“Sorry I kept you waiting.” Dr. Whale pushed the door open. “But as you know, it’s madness in here. Here, let me take Katherine.”   
“Please do something for her,” Regina handed the baby over, “I cannot stand to hear her cry like that.”   
She watched nervously as Whale looked over the baby, checked thermometers. Pushing some of her hair back, he frowned. Regina held her breath. He motioned her over.   
“See that?” Wale pointed to a faint red streak behind Katherine’s left ear. “Spots.” Regina’s eyes teared.   
“Measles.”   
“Measles.” He shifted Katherine in his arms as he carefully handed her back to Regina. “I’m going to give her something for the fever. It should last longer than the over the counter drops. That’s the way to beat measles-control the fever. In our land, people died from fevers going out of control. Here, we can manage the fever and help her. Help all of them.”   
Regina looked over at Robin, who lowered his eyes. He looked down at Roland.   
“You can’t blame yourself.” Whale attempted to reassure him. “You had no idea.”   
“I don’t understand how this happened,” Robin didn’t take his eyes off his son. “Why didn’t we get sick as soon as Marian returned?”  
“I don’t know-exactly.” Whale admitted as he sat down beside Robin. “Since time travel isn’t typically a very successful act, there hasn’t been much experience with time travelers themselves. The only thing we’re safe to assume is that Marian was exposed to measles before she left the Enchanted Forest. When she came through, her system gradually started to breakdown until it began to speed too quickly to allow her to survive in this land. When that happened, her system broke down whatever was keeping her from being contagious and it allowed it to spread to those she was in contact with. Did Marian die from measles originally?”   
Regina saw the glance Robin shot at her. If she hadn’t been so concerned, she would have said something immediately. But it was obvious-he knew. He knew who had killed Marian before.   
“No.” He responded, glancing back at Whale. “It wasn’t measles.”   
“Well,” Whale looked at the thermometer he’d been using in Roland’s ear, “if it makes you feel any better, she probably would have come down with them if she hadn’t passed however she did.”  
Robin didn’t answer, but he looked over at Regina again.   
“So what do we do?” Regina asked, anxious to get back to the subject on hand.   
“Well, I’m going to give them both a fever reducer-stronger than the over the counter stuff you’ve been giving them. And then we keep them comfortable. My other concern right now is how are the two of you?”   
“I’m fine.” Regina told him slightly too quickly. “I’m not sick.” The look on Whale’s face told her he was not convinced.  
“Well, did you have the measles before?”   
“No,” she grumbled reluctantly.   
“Well then, your Majesty, you’re a potential risk. And I need to keep an eye on you for symptoms. Robin, how about you?” Robin shrugged noncommittally.   
“I didn’t have them.” His tone indicated there was something else.   
“And?” Whale caught it too.   
“I….” Robin looked away from them both. “I think I may have something.” Regina closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.  
“Fever?” Whale pressed. “Aches? Headache?” Robin nodded.   
“I don’t know about the fever, but the headache and the aches, yes.”   
“Then we have another case.” Dr. Whale got up. “You two-both of you-“ his look was at Regina “need to rest. Robin, you’re already ill. Regina, you’re at a high risk. I know you’re worried about the children, but you have to rest.”   
“What do we do?” Regina asked again. “And not just for them, for everyone.”   
“I’ll give you something for the fever,” Whale turned to Robin. “But I’m not kidding-rest is key.” He opened the door. “I’ll be right back.”   
Regina waited until the door fell closed to look over at Robin.   
“You didn’t tell me you were that sick.”   
“I knew you’d worry. And you have enough right now without worrying about me.” She hated how sick he looked, but his eyes were sympathetic. She knew she couldn’t help but worry. “Regina, you heard what he said. You have to get some rest yourself.”   
“I will. Eventually.” She stroked Katherine’s hair. She didn’t know how, but she would figure out something eventually.


	15. Chapter 15

When Henry was young, about Roland’s age or only slightly older, Regina had contracted his strep throat. At the time, she thought it was the worst sore throat she had ever had. She had been wrong. It was now the second worst compared to the one she had at this moment.   
Her throat didn’t just hurt when she swallowed. It hurt continually, like someone had rubbed it raw. For a little while, it had started with a dull ache. Then it had gradually spread into the fire it was right now.   
And she was not mentioning it to anyone.   
Katherine stirred where she slept in the bassinet. Regina snapped around, quickly crossing the room to scoop her up. On the bed, Roland slept wrapped in his father’s arms.  
“Shhh,” Regina murmured. “I know, I know you don’t feel well. I wish there was more I could do for you.”   
“Regina? What’s wrong?” Robin eased himself up on one arm.   
“Nothing. She’s fine.” Regina murmured. “Well, as fine as she can be. With measles.”   
Robin sighed, pushing himself fully off of the bed and moving over to kneel in front of Regina. He laid his hand on Katherine’s forehead, rubbing gently.   
“Years ago in the Enchanted Forest, before Roland was born, I broke into Rumpelstiltskin’s castle. Marian was pregnant, and she was sick. There was a wand-. I stole it. The wand healed her-saved her.” He paused, swallowing hard. Regina didn’t miss the grimace on his face. “Is there anything in this world that might do the same?”   
Regina looked at him. She felt like her brain was getting fuzzy from a combination of distracting sore throat and headache. In addition, she was so incredibly tired. She had to force all that away to make a coherent thought.   
“I don’t know. If there was, I suppose it’s in Gold’s shop. But from what Charming said, Gold and Belle are holed up to stay away from the virus. Besides, even if it worked in our land, it might not here.” Robin looked disheartened. Regardless, Regina added her last strike. “Robin, we’re in this mess because of magic. Magic always comes with a price. Are you willing to risk more to save them?”   
“I’d risk anything to save them.” He looked up at her seriously.   
“So would I.” Regina scratched the back of her neck. “But we have no certainty it will work.” Robin didn’t look like he agreed, but something else had distracted him.  
“I hate feeling helpless.”   
“Agreed.” Regina rubbed the back of her neck again. Robin’s mouth set in a line of dislike. “What?” She let her confusion register across her face.   
“Let me see your neck.”   
“Why?” Regina lifted her hair off of her neck. Robin leaned in close to her, close enough she could smell his scent. Gently, he reached out and traced a line along her skin with one finger. Regina shuddered as he did. Unfortunately, it wasn’t because of a good sensation. The touch sent goosebumps flying on her skin.   
“Spots.” Robin pulled back. “You have it too.”   
“I don’t.”   
“You do.” He had a splash of rash developing against his hairline. “You’re sick too.”   
“I’m still healthier than you.” In truth she wasn’t sure why she was arguing with him. This wasn’t worth fighting over.   
“I think that’s debatable.” Robin gave her a faint smile. Regina rolled her eyes.   
Outside, rain was starting to beat against the window. Robin moved back to the bed. Roland woke up for a few minutes, drank a little water, and then settled against him again. Regina rocked Katherine in her arms. The baby was asleep again, her pale skin streaked with red spots.   
“You should get some sleep.” Robin told her gently. Regina shook her head.   
“I’m not tired.”   
“You’re lying.”   
“How do you know?”   
“Because I’m exhausted. There’s no way you can be this sick and not be exhausted.” Regina went back to ignoring him and rocking Katherine.   
“Well?” Whale eased the door open. “How are things in here?”   
Regina opened her mouth to speak, but Robin instantly cut her off.   
“Regina’s infected.”   
“Is she now?” Whale entered the room and crossed to stand before her. “What’s wrong, Regina?”   
“Nothing.” She snapped, holding Katherine closer to her. “I’m fine.”   
“Spots on the back of her neck.” Robin informed Whale.   
“Good. They’ll match the ones on her forehead.” Whale frowned, and Regina shot Robin a look as her hand instantly moved to cover her forehead.   
“Don’t worry about me.”   
“It’s my job, your Majesty.” He knelt down in front of her. “How’s everything else?” Regina sighed and turned away from both of them.   
“My throat….hurts.”   
“There we go.” Whale got up. “Congratulations on being the newest case. You both need something else for the fever. I’ll get it. How are the children?”   
“Sleeping, mercifully.” Robin rubbed Roland’s back gently. “How bad…how bad are things?”   
“For the moment, holding our own.” Whale leaned against the door. “But given the exposure, and the infection, we could run low on resources.”   
“And what if we do?” Regina stood up, carefully swinging Katherine to her shoulder.   
“Then we’ll do some adjustments and we’ll work something out. Don’t worry.”   
“Yet.” Regina muttered. Whale frowned, setting his jaw.   
“If it comes down to it, we’ll treat the sickest first, and the children.”   
“Fine with me.” Robin tucked the blanket back over Roland before letting his eyes meet Regina’s. She nodded her agreement.   
“I’ll be back with something for both of your fevers.” Whale turned towards the door. “And you’re both taking it.” He shot Regina the look this time. Regina glared back at him.   
After he’d left, Robin got to his feet. He went to stand at the window, staring out at the storm. Regina rocked Katherine, moving to stand a little closer to him.   
“It’s really storming.” She looked passed him. Robin nodded.   
“I can’t stop thinking about my men. They’re were all as exposed to Marian as I….well, maybe not as exposed.” At the look on Regina’s face, he proceeded awkwardly. “I mean, they’re out there in this storm…and they’re sick.”   
“Robin,” Regina warned, “you can’t be thinking of going out there.” He turned to face her fully, leaning heavily on the windowsill. “You’re sick.”   
“I know.” He sighed, rubbing his face wearily. “I know I can’t go out there. But I feel guilty. They need me. I’ve always taken care of them.”   
“I understand.” Regina murmured, taking a few steps towards him. “But we need you here.”   
Robin reached out for her and rested a hand gently on her cheek.   
“Regina, I am not going to leave you here-sick-with two sick children. I know I can’t go. But I still feel guilty. And I’m going to feel worse when Roland realizes he doesn’t have a stuffed creature to sleep with.”   
Regina smiled faintly as he withdrew his hand and looked over at his son.   
“What is it? What will he miss?”   
“Actually,” Robin looked over at her and smiled brightly, “it’s the flying monkey you took care of for him in the Enchanted Forest.”   
Regina laughed, thinking back on that day. It had been so incredibly heartbreaking for her…but to help Roland made it at least a little better.   
“He still has that?”   
“Hasn’t slept without it since.” Robin watched her reaction with a smile. Regina was touched, but still shook her head.   
“As found as I am of Roland, I’m still not letting you out into a thunderstorm just for a stuffed monkey.”   
There was a knock on the door. Regina turned to see Charming looking in. Sighing, she waved him to enter. As Charming slipped inside, she realized Grumpy was right behind him.   
“What are we interrupting?” He glanced between the two.   
“Nothing other than Robin wanting to go into a storm to help his men.” She sighed. Grumpy looked at her and frowned.   
“You don’t look so good.”   
“Well, at least unlike you I usually do.” Regina snapped back, holding Katherine tighter.   
“Stop it, both of you.” Charming looked between them as Robin laid his hand on the back of Regina’s arm. “You’re not doing any good.” He turned to look at Robin. “You can’t go out there. Not in your condition.”   
“I know.” Robin sighed. “I know. I’m just worried.” Charming appeared to think for a moment, and then shrugged.   
“I’ll go.”   
“What?!” Regina and Grumpy both responded at the same time.   
“You can’t go out there either!” Regina exclaimed. “You have a sick wife and son too.”   
“Snow and Neal are fine for the time being. They’re where they can get the best care. And I’m not sick. Robin’s men could be sick out there in this storm. Someone’s got to at least check on them.”  
“Thank you.” Robin looked extremely relieved.   
“I won’t be long.” Charming started for the door.   
“I’ll walk you out at least.” Robin followed after him.   
“Grumpy, stay with Snow.” Charming called over his shoulder. “Tell her I’ll be right back.”   
Grumpy looked at Regina and rolled his eyes. Regina had to nod her agreement. But in truth, she wanted all of them out of the room at least for a minute. As soon as the door closed behind them, she sunk down into the hospital recliner beside Katherine’s bassinet. Gently easing the baby down, she slumped back to rest her head on the back of the chair.   
Her skin was itching in various places at various levels. She undid the button on her right wrist so she could rub a ring of spots under the cuff. Her head hurt enough to make her nauseated. And then there was that damn sore throat.   
She was so incredibly tired. She would take a few minutes to herself, close her eyes just briefly.


	16. Chapter 16

Regina’s eyes opened at the soft whimpering of Roland’s cries. They were immediately followed by the sound of Robin’s hushed whispers. She sat up, rubbing her temples.   
“What’s wrong?” She asked, standing up slowly. Every muscle in her body was locked up from sleeping in the recliner.   
“He’s all right.” Robin murmured softly, feeling Roland’s forehead. Regina moved to sit beside them. Roland looked up at her wearily. His face was pale under the red rash.   
“How do you feel, darling?” Regina asked, pulling one of his small hands into hers.   
“My throat hurts.” He looked up at her with eyes that looked just as sick.   
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “It’ll be better soon though.”   
She hoped.   
Roland turned his pale face back to his father. He was coughing a little, but nothing as bad as it could have been.   
“Where’s my monkey?”   
“Still back at the camp.” Robin stroked his son’s hair before looking up at Regina. “I forgot to mention that to Charming.”   
“What?” Roland seemed to pick up the gist of the conversation and it clearly rattled his already sick frame.   
“Wait.” Regina flicked her finger against his nose. “I’ll be right back.”   
She got up from the bed and went to Katherine’s bag. Rummaging in it, she produced a pale pink rabbit Katherine rarely acknowledged-she was much more fond of a small pink cat. Not that it mattered. Any germs Katherine had, Roland now had as well.   
“How about this?” She sat down beside Roland, holding the rabbit by both front paws. “Will this be a good substitute?”   
“Is it Katherine’s?” Roland looked hesitantly at the rabbit.   
“Yes.” Regina nodded, “but she won’t mind. I promise.” Roland appeared to put some more thought into that before giving in and grabbing the rabbit out of Regina’s hands. He tucked it under his chin and closed his eyes, snuggling into his pillow. Robin smiled.   
“You’re so good at this.”   
“I have some experience.” Regina smiled back at him. “How long was I asleep?”   
“About an hour.” Robin leaned back on the bed. “You needed the sleep more than anything. Feeling any better?”   
“No.” Regina admitted. “You?”   
“Not at all.” Robin told her. “Slightly worse, if that’s possible.”   
“Why don’t you lay down then?” Regina glanced back at Katherine. “If they’re both asleep, we should be as well.”   
“Good plan.” Robin glanced at the clock. “But I’m waiting for Prince Charming to get back.”   
“What time is it?”   
“Almost 8.”   
“At night?”  
“Yes.” Robin motioned to the table beside her. “You need to take those.” He pointed to the tablets in the cup. “Whale brought them. For the fever.”   
Regina nodded and picked up the cup. She tossed them into her mouth, dry swallowing the two quickly.   
“Have you heard anything else?”   
“No, nothing.” He got up to move to the window. Regina stretched and went over to look in on Katherine. The baby was sleeping. Regina watched her, wondering when she’d actually get her baby back.   
“It’s going to be ok.” Robin’s hand was resting on the small of her back. “Everything’s going to be ok.” Regina nodded, not taking her eyes off of the baby.   
“Hey.” Whale opened the door a crack. “David’s back. Thought you’d want to know.”   
Robin let go of Regina and headed out of the door immediately. Regina almost missed the touch of his hand.   
“Did you take the pills I left you?” Regina pointed to the empty cup. “Good.” Whale fully entered the room. “You can’t help them right now. You’ll do better to get some rest yourself.”   
“I know.” Regina rubbed her eyes wearily. Whale followed her eyes down to the baby.   
“We haven’t lost anyone yet, Regina. I doubt your daughter will be our first.”   
Regina didn’t respond, then finally looked up at him and nodded. Whale squeezed her hand gently before disappearing out of the room.   
After he’d left, Regina settled herself back into the chair beside Katherine’s bassinet. She couldn’t recall ever feeling this sick in her life. And it bothered her that she was falling into it. She was supposed to be stronger than this, to fight harder and prevail against ailments. Once again, her brain was deciding to sleep. So she let it. 

 

Katherine was awake at 3, and then again at 4. Regina was glad she’d slept a bit, but it didn’t do much good. She was managing to feel worse every time she got up. But Katherine wasn’t eating again, and that sent Regina into a further panic. When the baby fell back to sleep, Regina sat and stared at her. Robin and Roland had slept through most of it. Part of her wanted them awake, but the rest wanted them to sleep.   
Katherine’s cries woke her fresh at 6. Regina jolted out of the light doze she’d been in. Katherine’s cries were different. They sounded like nothing Regina had ever heard before. They were less frantic, lethargic, more like she was crying just because she didn’t know what else to do.   
The time, she had no choice.   
“Robin.” She called as softly as she could. “Robin. Wake up.”   
“Regina?” He sat up slowly. “What is it? What’s wrong?”   
“It’s Katherine.” Regina stood up, cradling the baby to her chest. “Something’s wrong.” Robin was at her side in an instant.   
“How can you tell?”  
“Because I don’t know this cry. And I know all of her cries. Find Whale. Now.”   
He didn’t have to be told twice. Robin disappeared almost instantly. Regina nuzzled her face into Katherine’s cheek.   
“Stay with me, darling.” She whispered. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”   
But she was terrified. And she couldn’t fight that much longer. It was an epic battle. Strong for her daughter, yet give into her own fears.   
“What’s going on?” Whale cooed as he entered the room. “Katherine, talk to me.” He took the baby gently out of Regina’s arms. “Let’s take her down to one of the exam rooms, so we don’t wake Roland.”   
Regina felt Robin take her hand, and she didn’t fight him. She simply squeezed harder as they followed Whale down the hallway.   
“What’s wrong with her?” Regina asked the second they were inside the exam room. “What’s happening?”   
Robin’s arm slipped around her waist, holding her back slightly from Whale who was looking over the baby.   
“She’s dehydrated.” Whale finally turned, handing Katherine back to Regina. “She’s probably thirsty and wants to drink, but she doesn’t feel good enough to want anything. Dehydration is fairly common in sick infants.”   
“So what do we do?” Robin was holding Regina tighter against him. She wondered if it was partially for his own comfort.   
“I think we give her an IV for a little while, get some fluids into her. Her fever isn’t bad for as sick as she is. She’s holding her own, we just need to make sure she doesn’t get weaker.”   
“But an IV?” Regina asked. “Won’t that hurt?”   
“Just when we put it in. Regina, it’s going to be a lot worse if we don’t get fluids into her.”   
Regina felt sicker than she had a moment before. This was how infants died in the Enchanted Forest. They got fevers, they got dehydrated, they died from lack of fluids.   
Katherine’s weak cries seemed to get louder in her ears. Regina looked down at her daughter, and then up at Robin.   
“We have to do whatever we can.” Robin told her gently. Regina nodded.   
“I’ll hold her.” Whale didn’t seem to see a point in talking her out of it.   
“Ok, here,” he patted the chair in front of him, “sit down.” Regina sat, and Robin knelt down on the floor beside her. He rested one hand on Katherine’s head and the other on the arm Regina had wrapped around the baby.   
Whale disappeared from the room. Regina raised her eyes from Katherine to Robin.   
“This would be terrible even if I wasn’t sick.”   
“I know.” Robin rubbed her arm gently. “At least you know more about this world than I do. I wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t here.”   
“I would have fallen apart by now if you weren’t here.” Regina looked at him tearfully.   
Robin leaned in and pressed his lips against her cheek. Regina’s eyes squeezed shut, trying to keep the tears in her eyes contained.   
“Don’t worry.” He whispered into her ear. “She’s going to be fine.”   
Whale let himself back into the room, and Regina watched as he began connecting IV equipment.   
“The needle is tiny.” He held up the sealed package. “And she doesn’t need much. We might have to give her a little more later, but for now just enough to get her back where she should be. It won’t take long.”   
Whale moved down to Katherine’s level. He unwrapped the packaging and Regina turned her head away.   
“Good idea.” Whale nodded, taking Katherine’s right hand and rubbing it with his thumb. “Maybe you shouldn’t watch.”   
“No,” Regina turned back to him, “I’m ok.”   
“Ok. But I don’t need you fainting on me.” Whale smoothed Katherine’s fingers as best he could. “Ok, Katherine, work with me here.”   
Katherine let out a different, sharper cry as the needle went in, and the tears Regina had been holding back slipped silently from her eyes. Robin’s hand tightened on her arm, but he never took his eyes off of Katherine.   
Whale put a piece of medical tap over Katherine’s hand, wrapping it around so she couldn’t pull the needle out.   
“Let’s give her a little while.” Whale stood up, adjusting the IV. “I’ll check back in 15 minutes.” Regina nodded, rocking Katherine gently in her arms. The fresh bout of cries from the IV were calming down.  
“You’ll be fine.” Robin kissed Katherine’s head. “Don’t you worry, my darling. Mama and Papa have you.”   
Regina smiled faintly, rubbing Katherine’s chest with her other hand.   
“Go to sleep, love.” She whispered, leaning down to kiss Katherine’s forehead. Katherine’s blue eyes opened, looked up at her mother, and then slipped shut again. Her cries were subsiding as she began to drift off again.   
“Must be making her feel better.” Robin murmured softly. Regina nodded.   
“I wish she’d eat something.” She sighed, looked up from Katherine. “You should get back to Roland. If he wakes up alone, he could panic.”   
“Roland is most likely sleeping. I’m staying here with the two of you.” Robin told her patiently.   
Now that her adrenaline was subsiding, Regina was beginning to feel her own sickness rising again. She was tired, and her muscles ached. And that damn sore throat refused to subside.   
“How do you feel?” She looked Robin over. He looked no worse, in all honesty. Which was good, considering how bad he looked.   
“I’m ok.” Robin shrugged. “I’ll be all right. What about you?” Regina glanced up at him, shook her head.   
“Honestly?”  
“Please.”   
“I’ve never felt this bad in my life.” Robin chuckled humorlessly.   
“I feel that expresses my sentiments exactly.”   
“Well, then let’s hope Roland and Katherine don’t remember it.” Regina smiled wearily.   
“How are things?” Whale whispered as he leaned in the door. “I don’t hear crying.”   
“She’s sleeping.” Regina tightened her grip on the baby, hugging her gently.   
“Good.” Whale came fully into the room. He checked the IV, nodding. “Let’s let her go for a little while, let that take in her system.”   
Regina let out her breath slowly. Even that made her throat hurt. Beside her, Robin was coughing. Whale frowned, shaking his head.   
“You two sound, and look, terrible.”   
“We’re fine.” Robin grumbled, clearing his throat.   
“Speak for yourself.” Regina sat up as Whale finished removing the IV from Katherine’s hand.   
“Regina, why don’t you hang out here for a few minutes?” Whale put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re the only one I haven’t fully looked over since coming down with it.” Regina opened her mouth to argue, but Whale shook his head. “I think Robin is capable of carrying Katherine down the hallway.”  
Robin nodded, reaching out for the baby. Regina gave her up, albeit reluctantly.   
“Take your time.” Robin shifted Katherine to his shoulder. “We’ll be waiting for you.”   
Whale waited for the door to close before he turned to Regina.   
“All right, let’s take a look.” He took her temperature, looked in her throat and gently examined patches of spots. Regina flinched when he looked in her eyes. “Making your head hurt?” She nodded, pressing her fingers to her temples.   
“How bad is it?”   
“Well, you’re not the sickest I have, but you’re not one of the weakest cases either. Your fever is high. You have to be feeling that.”   
“Yeah…I-.” Regina frowned down at her hands in her lap. “I’m tired.”   
“You need to get some sleep. Some serious sleep. I know that’s hard, but I can try to find another room you can move into alone.” Regina shook her head.   
“I can’t.”   
“We can move Katherine with you. She’ll sleep too. Remember, you only have one sick child. Roland is Robin’s responsibility. You need to worry about yourself as well.”   
“I can’t do that.” Regina shook her head slowly. “I won’t.”   
“I knew it was a long shot.” Whale rummaged in a cabinet, produced a bottle of pills and shook two into his hand. He filled a glass with water from the sink before handing it over to her. “Take these.”   
Regina swallowed the tablets, as well as a few additional sips of water. She handed the cup back to Whale.   
“Robin is Katherine’s father. He should be with us.”   
“I’m not saying he shouldn’t see his sick child. I’m not saying he shouldn’t help take care of her.” Whale moved towards the door, pulling it open. “I’m just saying you shouldn’t run yourself into the ground worrying about him and his son as well as your own. Take a few minutes before you go back.”   
As soon as the door closed, Regina was on her feet and heading back down the hallway. Robin got up as soon as she opened the door.   
“What did he say?”   
“He said I need to get some sleep.” Regina rubbed her eyes wearily.   
“He’s right.” Robin told her gently. “Come on, lay down for awhile.”   
“Roland-.”   
“Roland is sound asleep. He will not notice, or care, if you’re asleep beside him.” Robin nodded towards the bed. “Go on, get some sleep.”   
She didn’t argue. Instead, she unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off, leaving her only in the black camisole she’d worn beneath it. Then she removed her shoes before collapsing onto the bed.   
Lying down did feel better. Even though the mattress was uncomfortable, her already tense body sunk into it.   
“What about you?” She looked over at Robin.   
“Don’t worry about me.” He sat down beside Katherine’s bassinet. “Get some sleep, Regina.”   
Beside her, Roland turned over to snuggle into her. Regina wrapped an arm around him and closed her eyes. She was asleep in no time.


	17. Chapter 17

“I’m not waking her, she needs the sleep right now.” Regina came to hearing the sound of Robin’s voice. Groaning, she fought her eyes open.   
Sleep was supposed to be one of those things that eased the human body, healed and strengthened it. So when a human slept, and woke up feeling worse, it was a jolt to the system. Regina felt far worse than when she’d fallen asleep, and she had no idea how long she’d been out.   
“What’s going on?” She forced herself to sit up, blinking in the sight of Robin, David, and Leroy in the room.   
“Don’t worry about it.” Robin glanced over his shoulder at her. “Go back to sleep.”   
“What is it?” She forced herself onto her feet, trying to shake off the sleep and sickness.   
“Whale’s giving the town a limit to get into the hospital. Then he has to close it down.” David had his arms folded over his chest.  
“He’s quarantining the hospital?” Regina’s head wasn’t quite clear. Leroy nodded.   
“Everyone who isn’t here by 7 is on their own.”   
“What time is it now?” Regina wanted to know just how much time the town had, and just how long she’d been asleep.   
“Two.” David told her. Regina glanced at Robin.   
“You let me sleep all day?” Robin sighed.   
“To be fair, I just woke up myself.”  
“We have to let everyone know,” David glanced at his watch, “they have to know they only have five hours to get in here if they need help.”   
“But what about the supplies?” Regina caught herself scratching the back of her neck. Quickly she pulled her hand away.   
“He can only treat the sickest.” David shrugged. “The best he can do for the rest is make them comfortable. We’re out of room, but he compromised on fitting in a few more as long as we have a cut off time. I’m sending Emma to tell people. I can’t leave, not due to how much I’ve been exposed. None of us can-not that either of you is physically capable of it.”   
Regina thought for a second she might faint. She took a few deep breaths and kept herself from swaying off her feet. She hoped no one had noticed.   
“If you’re sending Emma, who’s with Henry?”   
“He’s with Ruby for now. They’re both fine, but Granny’s sick. Regina, don’t worry. He’s not in danger.”   
She nodded. She’d been so caught up over the last few days with her own illness, and Robin, and Katherine, and Roland, she hadn’t even had a chance to get in touch with her oldest son. If she hadn’t felt as miserable as she did right now, she would have been guilty.   
David seemed to pick up the vibe that now wasn’t a good time.   
“We’ll keep you posted, all right?” He tapped Leroy’s arm, nodding towards the door. Once they were gone, Robin turned to look at Regina.   
“You look terrible.”   
“So do you.” Regina licked her dry lips before turning to pour water from the pitcher. She picked up her cup, braced herself, and swallowed. Robin winced as she did.   
“How did you sleep?” Robin reached over and stroked her cheek. Something in her brain wanted him to stop for her past reasons. The rest of her brain just wanted his comfort.   
“Fine. I guess. How about you?”   
“As good as can be expected.” He sighed heavily and Regina knew the strain this was having on him. “At least you know Henry’s all right.”   
“Some mother I’ve been to him.” Regina frowned. “I haven’t even checked on him since we got here.”   
“You’ve been preoccupied. Even without the sick baby, you’ve been borderline unconscious yourself.”   
“I know, but still….I’m his mother.”   
“It’s all right.” Robin took her hands, squeezing them. “He will understand. Besides, you can’t be putting yourself through anymore stress right now.” Regina gave him a faint smile. “Why don’t you lay down?”   
“I can’t.”   
“Why can’t you?” Robin turned her towards the bed. “There are many other sick women in this hospital who haven’t been out of bed all day, and you’re fighting to go back to it.”   
“I’m not other women.” Regina tried to pull together her confidence, but her body wasn’t playing.   
“That is certainly true.” Robin nodded back towards the bed. “Sleep.”   
She couldn’t argue. Regina went back to collapse onto the bed. Roland barely acknowledged her as she did. 

 

She was awakened hours later by the sound of Katherine’s cries. Regina sat up and saw that Robin was picking himself up from the floor.   
“Are you sleeping on the floor?”   
“I’ve slept in worse places.” He picked up Katherine before she could pull herself off of the bed. Katherine squirmed in his arms, crying harder.   
“I know that cry.” Regina held out her arms. Inside of her, relief was overriding everything else. “She’s hungry.”   
Robin’s mouth dropped as he handed her the baby.   
“Do you think she’ll-?” Katherine nuzzled against Regina’s chest.   
“Do you think it’s safe?” Regina hesitated. “I mean, I’ve had a few doses of medicine….”   
“I think you should try.” Robin nodded. “It’s been so long since she’s even expressed interest….” Regina agreed, even though she was silently hoping she was physically capable of nursing. But she pulled up the hem of her shirt, opened her bra, barely conscious of the fact that Robin was there and watching for the first time since Katherine was born.   
When Katherine latched onto her nipple, Regina could have cried. Robin’s eyes closed.   
“Thank God.” He whispered. Regina’s brain raced through. Katherine had been sick for technically three days. Were her symptoms beginning to run their course? Was she recovering?   
Regina cradled Katherine against her, rocking her gently against her as she paced. Relief was making her forget just how sick she was. When Katherine stopped nursing, she laid her forehead against Regina’s breast and began to doze. It was the most peaceful thing Regina had seen in days.  
Robin took the baby as she tugged her bra and top back into place before taking Katherine back from him.   
“I don’t know how much she actually got….we should try and give her a bottle.”   
“It was enough to calm her down.” Robin shrugged. “I think we take it as a win.”   
There was noise in the hallway, causing both of them to turn. Regina paused to slip her shoes back on as Robin pulled open the door to investigate.   
“What time is it?” Regina asked, shifting Katherine to her shoulder. Robin gave her a questioning look before the realization registered on his face.   
“7:00.”   
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Regina followed him out of the door.   
Commotion was flying in the hospital entryway. Not surprising, Charming was in the middle of the raised voices. Robin put his hand behind him, stopping Regina.   
“You and Katherine stay back. Or go back to the room.”   
“I want to know.” Regina shook her head.   
“What’s going on?” Robin grabbed Leroy’s arm. Leroy shrugged.   
“People don’t like the no admittance policy.”   
“What a surprise.” Regina murmured, stroking Katherine’s back.   
“You have a suggestion?” Leroy looked over at her.   
“I wish I did.” Regina sighed, nuzzling into Katherine’s hair.   
Whale was moving through the crowd. Regina took a few steps back. Normally, this was something she would have been involved in, but tonight she was sick. And tired. And cradling her sick and tired infant.   
Charming moved out of the crowd, stopping to have a few words with Robin and Leroy. The three of them moved back towards where Regina stood.   
“Things any calmer?” She asked, holding Katherine out to Robin. Robin looked a bit surprised she was letting go of the child willingly, but he took her nonetheless.   
“A bit.” Charming frowned towards the crowd. “It makes sense, but it isn’t easy to explain to people.”   
“Never thought I’d hear you say that.” Regina rolled her eyes. All three men gave her a long look.   
A wave of dizziness rushed over her. The dizziness seemed to magnify all of her other symptoms. Regina reached over, catching hold of Robin’s arm.   
“Regina?” He looked over at her curiously. “Are you ok?”   
“Dizzy.” Regina looked down, trying to focus on a point on the floor. Robin shoved Katherine into David’s arms. He held Regina’s upper arms, rubbing gently.   
“Regina, look at me.” Turning her head made everything hurt worse. Another wave of dizziness, stronger this time, sent her collapsing.   
Robin caught her before she could hit the floor. Regina was conscious of being lifted, and the next thing she knew she was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Robin was hovering over her.   
“Regina, look at me. Look at me. Regina! Regina stay with me. Come on. Don’t leave me.”   
Her eyes were so heavy. They kept attempting to fall shut. Whale came into her view, frowning. She heard conversation that was probably normal tone, but to her it was blurred.   
“Her fever’s up. Significantly.” Whale was muttering. She was aware of something cold on her arm, then the sting of a needle.   
“Regina.” Robin whispered, taking hold of one of her hands. “Regina. Please.”   
Exhaustion won over, and her eyes slipped shut.


	18. Chapter 18

The ticking of a clock was the first sound she became conscious of. Regina opened her eyes.   
She was in bed in the hospital room. Roland was asleep half on top of her. The stuffed rabbit was draped over her stomach. She turned her head slowly. Her throat still hurt. Her head, however, was no longer pounding as badly.  
She tried to sit up. A quick jab of pain in her right hand stopped her. Looking down, she saw an IV taped to the back of her hand.   
Well, she was not getting up.   
Lying back, she laid her left hand over Roland’s back. She felt less feverish than she had, but her body still felt weak.   
She glanced around the room. Robin was settled back onto the floor, a blanket thrown over him. There was silence from Katherine. It bothered Regina she was so close to her daughter but couldn’t see her.   
She wasn’t sure how long she dozed, but she was jolted back to realty by Robin sitting up. He immediately looked up at her, and let out a sigh of relief as he met her eyes.   
“How are you feeling?” He asked, moving slowly to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. He took her right hand gently in his.   
“Ok, I guess.” Regina watched his fingers on hers. “How long have I been asleep?” Robin shook his head.   
“Not sleep, you passed out. And all night and most of the day.” Regina groaned softly.   
“How are the children?”   
“They’re fine. Katherine drank about a quarter of a bottle for me.” Regina smiled faintly.   
“Giving the baby a bottle all by yourself, that’s very impressive.” Robin smiled, squeezing her hand.   
“I knew I’d figure it out eventually.” Regina hated that her head was still falling back onto the pillow, showing she was less than healthy.   
“What’s this for?” She tapped the IV.   
“Dehydration.” Robin told her, stroking her hand. “Not that anyone was surprised how weak you made yourself.” Regina snorted, letting her head fall back against the pillow again. “Go back to sleep.”   
“I’m all right.”   
“You might as well. You’re not going anywhere until Whale takes that IV out of your arm. Get some rest, Regina.”   
“How are you feeling?” Robin shrugged.   
“Fever’s down. I’m just tired.”   
“You’re sleeping on the floor.”   
“I’ve been sleeping in the forest for years. The hospital floor is fine.” Regina nodded, closing her fingers around his.   
“You’ll get the baby if she wakes up?”   
“Of course. Don’t worry.” 

She slept again. Every now and then she was conscious of Roland snuggling against her, but she didn’t come truly awake until Dr. Whale closed the door.   
“You’re awake.” He whispered, stepping around Robin to her.   
“I’ve been in and out for awhile.” Regina sat up a little. Whale looked at the IV, then reached down to feel her glands and flick the flashlight into her eyes.   
“How are you feeling?”   
“A little better.” And she was, it wasn’t a lie. “Can I get up?” Whale was carefully disconnecting the IV. He considered her request.   
“As long as you keep it to small trips, nothing too intense.” Regina nodded. She didn’t feel that good after all.   
“I just want to be able to get my baby.” Whale’s expression softened slightly.   
“That’s fair. Just lie back down if you feel weak.”   
“I will.” She promised, and meant it. Whale started out of the room, glancing down at Robin.   
“Let me know when he wakes up. I need to look at him too.”   
“Ok.” Regina sat on the edge of the bed. “How are the children?”   
“They’re going to be ok.” Whale assured her. “And they’re getting better. Both of them.” Regina breathed a sigh of relief.   
Once Whale left the room, she eased herself gently off of the bed. Carefully, she rose to her feet and made sure she wasn’t going to fall over.   
In the small bathroom, she cleaned herself up as best she could, and got her first good look at herself in days.   
Her coloring was still bad. The spots were red against white skin. She dabbed her face gently with a wet paper towel. Even though, Regina thought if she was thinking of her appearance, she might be feeling better.  
She left the bathroom and observed the sleeping people around her. Roland was asleep on the bed, clinging to the stuffed rabbit. She crossed to Robin and knelt down beside him. She watched him sleep for a few minutes. Shaking it off, she got to her feet and stepped over him to Katherine’s bassinet.   
The baby was sleeping, her head turned slightly to her right. The lavender pacifier had slipped out of her mouth. For a moment, Regina debated putting it back in, and then decided Katherine’s sleep was more important. Oh well, if Katherine wasn’t missing it what did it matter.   
Regina went back to the bed and lay down. Roland moved over, snuggling instantly into her shoulder. Regina wrapped one arm around him, held him gently to her. He needed her, and she knew that. Sick children needed their mother. Or the closest thing they could find-which in Roland’s case was her. 

 

Regina spent most of the day in and out of sleep. When she was awake, it consisted of feeding Katherine or holding her as she slept. But there was one thing Regina noticed: when Katherine was awake, she was grabbing Regina’s hair, cooing and almost laughing from time to time. Katherine was getting better. Regina could see her daughter returning to herself.   
Robin seemed to finally be sleeping soundly. She saw him awake twice. Both times, he asked about the children, and then settled himself back to sleep again. His coloring was better. It was by no means good-or normal-but it was better.  
At dinnertime, Whale convinced her to eat a small container of strawberry yogurt. Her throat still felt swollen, but was nowhere near as bad as it had been.   
At 9:00, she gave Katherine a bottle and tucked her in for the night. Then she settled back into bed with Roland dozing on her chest while watching a cartoon on the wall-mounted television.   
When Regina woke up, sunlight was streaming into the room. Immediately, she realized she was alone in the bed. She heard Robin’s voice cooing playfully to the baby. He was pacing, trying unsuccessfully to fight Katherine for a bottle she was insistent to hold on her own.   
“Well, Katie-. Darling, you can’t-. Just let Daddy-. You’re just making a mess, you know? You know you’re not actually getting as much to eat this way?”   
“One of her favorite tricks.” Regina smiled, pushing herself up on her hands. “She learned it early. At least she thinks she has.”   
“She hasn’t been very successful so far.” Robin moved to sit down on the bed beside her. Regina smiled, looking down at the baby. She immediately realized Katherine had been changed into a lavender colored sleeper embroidered with a teddy bear on one side.   
“Looks like you’ve been busy this morning. Changing the baby, feeding her, misplacing Roland.” Robin laughed.   
“Roland is playing down the hallway. He was feeling better, and he needed to get some exercise. I thought if he felt up to it, it wouldn’t hurt.” Robin put down Katherine’s now empty bottle, wiped her face with her bib, and lifted her gently to his shoulder, where a pink and white striped blanket rested. “Really, I’m rather glad he’s not here. Because you and I need to talk.”   
Dread swept over her like a blanket.   
“We don’t need to talk.” Regina shifted uncomfortably. “Let me have Katherine.”   
“I’ve got Katherine.” Robin reassured her. “And we do need to talk. Things have changed.”   
“Things haven’t changed.” Regina turned herself away. “Robin-we can’t.”   
“Regina,” he laid his hand on her thigh, “things have changed. Over the last few days, things have changed. You know it, and I know it.”   
“I don’t-.”   
“Why are you denying this to yourself?” He nudged her gently. “Talk to me, Regina. Tell me why.”   
“Because this isn’t real.” Regina turned to face him. “We were sick, the children were sick. We put everything aside to help them. That’s all there was between us.”   
“Maybe we need to put everything aside for us.” Robin squeezed her hand. “Regina, I’ll say it if you won’t. I love you. And for the second time I sat in this hospital wondering if the woman I loved would live or die. With Marian, all I could think was that I didn’t want her to suffer. That I just wanted her to recover or to pass without suffering. With you, the other night, the only thing I wanted was for you to recover. I sat here and I couldn’t imagine living in this world, raising Katherine, without you.”   
Tears threatened to overcome her. Regina kept her face to the sun-filled window until she could speak coherently.   
“You do not have to say this to me.”   
“I realize that.” He turned her to face him. “Regina, what is it? Something’s bothering you.”   
Regina finally looked at him, letting some of her anger slip over her.   
“I heard what you said to Marian in the hospital before she died.” Robin shook his head at her blankly.   
“What did I say?”   
“You said that you would never love anyone like you loved her. You will never love me that way. That was the night I knew-for certain-that no matter what happened between us I would never be anything but a replacement for Marian.”   
Robin frowned at her, shifting Katherine from his shoulder into the crook of his arm. She snuggled into him, yawning as her eyes closed. Regina suspected Robin was intentionally keeping her so that Regina wouldn’t be distracted.   
“You’re angry with me for telling my dying wife I loved her?”   
“Don’t even try to twist this on me.” Regina snapped. She was still too tired for this conversation. “You left me for her, and then I hear you telling her that. Why should I believe you?”   
Robin took a deep breath. He looked down at Katherine for a few moments, and then turned his eyes to Regina.   
“Regina, I never loved you the way I loved Marian. Ever. You can never love two people exactly the same way. You don’t love Katherine and Henry the same way, and I’m sure you don’t love me the way you loved your Daniel.”   
“That’s different. First love is different.”   
“Well, Marian was my first love.” He shrugged. “No, I can’t erase the time I had with Marian, or how I felt for her. But I never could. She still held a place in my heart even before she came back.”   
“You left me-for her.”   
“We’ve talked about that.” Robin stroked the back of her hand gently. “I should have handled that better. We know that now. But before I could remedy that situation, Marian was dead-again. You know I believe things happen when they’re supposed to. Maybe this is a sign that we’re finally supposed to be together.”   
Regina stared down at her hands. This was too much. She wasn’t sure she could handle this-especially not after everything else that had happened this week. She felt Robin’s fingers against her cheek.   
“Regina, stop being stubborn. Just accept this for what it is and let’s be happy.”   
She had to say it. It was now or never. He had to know.  
“There’s more.” Regina murmured, twisting her fingers together.   
“Like what?” Robin was beginning to sound frustrated.   
“I killed Marian.” Regina looked up at him. “Back in the Enchanted Forest. The first time. I killed her. Obviously I didn’t know who she was, and I’m sure if I had I wouldn’t have necessarily cared. Your Wanted posters were all over the forest as well. Regardless, I did it. I killed the love of your life.”   
Robin was watching her with an expression she couldn’t read. Regina threw up her hands in frustration.   
“Would you say something?!”   
“Are you finished?” Robin asked calmly.   
“Yes.” Regina turned her head away, wishing he would hand over her daughter.   
“Ok then. Look at me.” He turned her face up to his. “Do you really think that I was so in love with Marian that I never found out what happened to her? Do you really think no one told me that the Queen killed her? Do you really think I didn’t spend a portion of my time plotting my own revenge against you?”   
Regina’s mouth fell open, and she stared blankly at him.   
“You…knew. All this time. You knew. You knew…before.” She looked down at Katherine. Robin nodded.   
“I’m not going to pretend it was easy-at first at least. When we first met in the Enchanted Forest, Little John reminded me of what you’d done-not that I’d forgotten. But….” He shrugged. “You weren’t the same person who left the Enchanted Forest. You weren’t the same woman who committed all of those murders, and who cast that curse. That was obvious to me. And holding it against you wasn’t going to do any good-for me or for Roland. And it wasn’t going to bring Marian back. Well, at least not that time.” Regina ignored that part.  
“So you….” Regina shrugged. “You’re forgiving me?”   
“I wouldn’t, if I thought I saw that woman in you. But I haven’t seen her. Not in the time I’ve known you. You’ve changed. And I’ve seen you with your children, and mine. You’re wonderful with them. You would do anything for Katherine and Henry. Hell, you nearly killed yourself for all three of us this week. And how many times have you almost sacrificed your own life for a town filled with people you don’t really like?”   
Regina shook her head.   
“But still-.”   
“Regina.” Robin shook her head. “Yes, you ruined my life. That I won’t deny. What you took for me was enormous and left a hole in me that will never truly be filled. But I do have this.” He held up Katherine. “And I’ve seen you- the real you. Everyone deserves a second chance, and I like to think I’ve given you one.”   
Her tears ran down her face. Robin slipped his arm around her gently.   
“Any further objections?”   
“I just never thought you’d-.” Regina closed her eyes.   
“Letting go is a bit hard, but I’d rather be happy in this case. And I know I can be happy with you.”   
Regina turned to look over at him.   
“If we do this, then that’s it. I cannot go through this again. If Marian returns again-.” Robin laughed.   
“Do you really believe that will happen again?” He grew serious now, hodling her eyes intently. “Nothing will ever take me from you again.” Robin whispered, stroking her cheek gently. “I swear, Regina, I will never leave you.”   
He reached for her, and her arms wrapped around her neck. She clung to him, hugging him tightly. A years’ worth of emotion began to boil out of her. He was finally hers. Nothing stood between them now. She had what she had always wanted.   
Robin tilted her head up to his, kissing her. Regina laid her forehead on his, tears still flowing from her eyes.   
“I want to go home.” She murmured, pulling back from him. “I want to take the children and go home.” Robin raised a questioning eyebrow.   
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”   
“If neither of us-or the children-is running a fever, why not? We can rest there as easy as we can here.” Robin sighed, looking down at Katherine.   
“I think we’ll need the doctor’s permission.”   
“He’ll give it. One less set of people he has to treat.”   
“And you’re not taking no for an answer.”   
“Exactly.”   
“All right.” Robin sighed, getting to his feet. He finally laid Katherine in her arms. “I’ll go talk to Whale, and round up Roland in the event we can leave. You wait here.”   
His fingers lingered on her cheek, tracing up into her hair. Gently, he leaned down to kiss her.   
“I’ll be right back.”   
“Ok.” Regina watched him go. As he left, she reached down and cradled Katherine tightly into her arms. Was this finally, after all this time, over?


	19. Chapter 19

Regina had never in her life been so glad to see her house. As soon as they were inside, she sent Robin to give Roland a bath while she gave Katherine one. Once both the children were clean, and settled into clean clothes, Regina sent Robin to shower while she kept an eye on them. Afterwards, she stepped into what became the best shower she had ever had in her life.   
After stepping out, Regina dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a gray tank top. She’d worry about her looks when she was fully health, and both children were fully healthy.   
Katherine was settled into her pack and play in the living room. Regina was lying on the sofa, watching the baby reach for her rattle. Robin was upstairs putting Roland down for a nap. Regina had to smile. Katherine was so advanced now. She’d grown so much in the last few weeks. Regina was so happy that Katherine was finally healthy, and becoming herself again.   
Robin came into the room, clad in plaid pajama pants and a gray t-shirt. He sat down on the couch beside her and lay down, settling himself against her back and pulling her to his chest. Regina immediately went tense. She wasn’t sure how to react to this. She was so accustomed to pushing him away. But now, this was ok.   
He apparently felt it, because he chuckled into her hair and kissed her neck.   
“Relax.” He murmured, stroking his fingers over her side. “This is our life now.”   
She took a deep breath, settling herself against his solid body. Robin’s fingers came to rest on her stomach, stroking gently through the fabric of her tank top. She was lulled by the silence in the house and the comfort of Robin’s arms. 

She woke up to the sound of the door slamming.   
“Mom!” Henry called from the entryway.   
“Henry! Easy.” Emma calmed him.   
“Henry?” Regina sat up from the couch, throwing herself off.   
“Mom!” Henry grinned and threw herself at him, barely letting her leave the living room doorway. “Are you ok? I was so worried.”   
“Oh, I’m fine.” Regina hugged him tightly to her. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you.”   
“It’s ok. I’m just glad you’re home.”   
Over his head, Regina saw Robin appear on the stairs, Katherine in his arms. Emma followed her eyes and turned to glance back. She looked momentarily taken back at the site of Robin in his pajamas holding the baby.   
“I…think I’ll go. If it’s ok if Henry stays.” Henry pulled back, smiling up at Regina.   
“Please? I can help.” Regina laughed, smoothing his hair with her fingers.   
“Of course you can stay.” Emma nodded.   
“Ok. But if he gets to be too much…send him my way. You’ve got two recovering babies already.”   
“He won’t be any trouble.” Regina smiled as Henry pulled away from her.   
“Can I hold Kat?” He asked Robin.   
“Well of course.” Robin placed the baby into Henry’s arms. “I bet she’s missed her big brother.”   
Emma shot Regina a quick glance. Regina nodded.   
“All right. Call me if you guys need anything.” She slipped quickly out the door. Regna smiled, crossing the room to watch Henry sway with Katherine in his arms.   
“Why don’t you go sit down with her?” Regina smiled, putting her hand on her son’s arm. “She might get fussy.”   
“Ok!” Henry carried Katherine into the living room. Regina heard him cooing to her. Robin’s arm slipped around her waist.   
“You realize now that we have three children to feed tonight?” Regina nodded, instinctively leaning back against him.   
“How does Roland like pizza?” 

 

Later than night, Regina and Robin were settled on the couch. The four of them had eaten an entire pizza. Katherine had been eating almost nonstop. She’d taken a bottle over dinner and was currently drinking another one on Regina’s lap.   
Robin’s arm rested gently around her. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it. She knew how she was supposed to feel-and she did enjoy it. But it wasn’t fully natural. Something felt…off.   
Roland was starting to wear out, so Robin took him upstairs to bed. Katherine finished her bottle and began to settle into sleep against her mother.   
When Robin returned, he took Katherine out of her arms.   
“Let’s go to bed, sweetheart.” He murmured softly as he cradled the baby to his chest. Regina leaned over and kissed Katherine.   
“Good night, Katherine.”   
“Don’t forget your brother.” Robin turned Katherine to Henry, who had climbed onto the sofa beside his mother. Henry leaned over and pressed a kiss to Katherine’s cheek.   
“Good night, Katie. I’ll see you in the morning.” He watched Robin carry Katherine upstairs before he turned to Regina. “So…Robin’s here.” Regina glanced at her son and nodded.  
“Yes, he is.”   
“So are you guys….” Regina shook her head, chuckling softly.   
“We’re….giving things another try.”   
“Good.” Henry beamed at her, and he didn’t have to say anything else. With that, he held up his phone. “Where’s your phone?”   
“I…um…” Regina glanced around the room. “I’m not sure.” Henry skimmed through his phone, clicked something, and Regina heard a ping. She got up and tracked it to the front hallway. Her phone was in her purse. She smiled, turning to look at Henry. “What’s this?” He held up his phone again, the Scrabble logo clearly visible on the screen.   
“Wanna play?” Regina saw the game request flash on her screen.   
“Ok, just a couple of games though.”

 

They played two games of Scrabble before Regina decided she was getting tired. Robin joined them for a bit, glancing at the screen and trying to get an explanation of how the game worked. Henry kissed Regina on the cheek before saying goodnight and disappearing upstairs.   
Quickly, Regina flipped on the television to watch just a few minutes of the news but instantly felt herself beginning to doze off. Robin’s hand fell on the back of her neck.   
“Come on,” he rubbed gently, “go to bed. I’ll close up here.”   
“All right.” Regina got to her feet. “Don’t forget to set the security alarm.” Robin smiled.   
“You don’t need an alarm now, you have me.” Regina chuckled softly.   
“Of course I do.” 

Upstairs she went into a mild state of panic. They were actually going to sleep together-in her bed-for the first time. She tried to remember back, so long ago, when she waited for this night with anticipation. That was back in the day when she fantasized about him crawling into bed beside her, pulling her to him, pressing soft kisses to her lips, her face…..  
Tonight she was nothing but nerves.   
What should she do? What should she wear? How should she react?  
In the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and washed her face. From her closet, she finally selected a pair of almost never worn pale pink and white pajama pants with a lacey white tank top. It was delicate and feminine, but not over the top sexy.   
Would he want to have sex? Was it too soon? Did she want to?   
She quickly decided the answer was no. She was tired, and twenty-four hours ago she’d been in the hospital getting over measles. Sex was off the table-at least for tonight.   
Not that she even felt sexy. As she changed, she took in the still healing patches of rash that had now turned a reddish-brown. She hadn’t lost a lot of weight, but enough that she looked thinner than usual. The dark circles under her eyes hadn’t disappeared. It was going to take awhile before she even felt like having sex herself. She just hoped it wasn’t on his mind.   
Regina turned out the overhead lights in the bedroom. She flipped on the bedside lamp on Robin’s side before slipping under the covers of her own. She stretched out on her stomach, relief taking over her at being back in her own bed.   
She was almost asleep when Robin came into the bedroom. She opened her eyes, not lifting her head from the pillow. He didn’t look at the bed, just went into the bathroom and closed the door.   
Regina let herself settle deeper into the bed. She was getting close to falling asleep.   
She jolted fully awake as Robin got into bed beside her. She held her breath for a second as he reached for her, pulling her to his chest. Regina relaxed against him as he nudged her gently.   
“You awake?”   
“Mmhmmm.” She answered sleepily.   
“Come here.” Reluctantly, she turned to face him. He kissed her gently.   
“Good night.” He stroked her hair out of her face.   
“Good night.” She smiled, feeling at ease with him for the first time all day.   
Robin let go of her to turn out the light before settling down to hold her again. Regina took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and closed her eyes. Sleep took hold almost immediately.


	21. Chapter 21

Regina awoke to a child crying. She forced her eyes open. She was going to have to find clothes. They’d had sex….several…more times before finally falling asleep.   
A figure was moving beside the bed. Robin, clad in boxers, was heading towards the doorway.   
“Go back to sleep.”   
“Who’s crying?”   
“Roland, I believe. I’ve got him. Go back to sleep.” Regina took no persuading. She dropped back onto the bed as the door opened.   
Robin’s footsteps moved down the hallway and Regina forced herself to feel the floor for clothing. She came up with the black satin pajama pants she’d been wearing and Robin’s t-shirt.   
Close enough.   
She pulled them back on before crawling under the blankets again. She was glad she’d dressed, because Robin returned a few minutes later with Roland in his arms.   
“What’s wrong?” She murmured sleepily. Please, don’t let him be sick again.  
“Bad dream.” He whispered. “And he doesn’t want to talk about it.”   
“Ok.” Regina smiled as Robin tucked Roland between them. Roland instantly rolled over, wrapping is arms around her and clinging. Robin wrapped his arm around both of them. Regina settled into the pillows as Robin’s breathing began to even out.   
She woke up several hours later to Katherine crying. Roland was still wrapped around her.   
“I’ll go.” Robin leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Since you’ve already got one child.” Regina smiled.   
“What time is it?”   
“6:30.”   
“Ok.” She held Roland tighter in her arms. Roland opened his eyes, and then closed them again.   
Regina dozed off. When she fully awoke, she found that Robin had not returned to bed. Roland was still tangled in her arms. She lay, stroking Roland’s dark hair through her fingers.   
“Regina?” He murmured into her chest.   
“What is it?” She smiled, shifting so she could tilt his face up to her.   
“Are you going to be my mama now?”   
That was such a hard question, especially when things still didn’t feel perfect to her. Regina knew she had to respect Marian’s memory for Roland’s sake, no matter what happened.   
“I can never replace your real mama,” she settled close beside him. “But I will take care of you like I’m your mama.” He smiled up at her.   
“Good.” Regina kissed his forehead.   
“Are you hungry?” Roland nodded. “Ok then. Let’s go find your father.” Roland wrapped his arms around her neck. Regina got up, letting his legs wrap around her waist. She carried him downstairs, into the kitchen.   
Sure enough, Robin was in the kitchen with Katherine. He smiled as Regina entered.   
“Well there he is.” He shifted Katherine to one arm as he leaned up to kiss Roland. “How’s my boy this morning?”   
“Still sleepy, but hungry.” Regina smiled as she settled Roland into a chair beside his father. Roland nodded.   
“Ok,” Robin got up. “You take Miss Katherine and I’ll find some breakfast.”   
“How is Miss Katherine this morning?” Regina took her daughter from Robin.   
“Took her bottle with no issues, and she believes that eventually I’ll get the hang of letting her hold it herself.” Regina chuckled.   
“To be fair, I’m not much better.” Robin nodded seriously.   
“She did say that.” 

 

Regina was in the bathroom carefully applying her makeup. She knew she was feeling better because she’d put on a sleeveless black dress, a pair of red heels, and was now carefully finishing her look before the mirror.   
Hands came to rest on her waist, and she closed her eyes as Robin kissed her throat.   
“You look incredible.” He told her softly. “Roland and I are heading off to the camp to get the rest of our things.”   
“Well, we’ll be waiting here when you get back.” Regina turned to him and smiled.   
“Actually,” Robin hesitated, “there’s something I wanted to do before…if it’s all right with you.”   
“And what’s that?” Regina raised an eyebrow suspiciously at him.   
“Roland…still doesn’t know Katherine is his sister. I think it might be time to tell him.”   
Regina hadn’t thought of that. She hadn’t given serious thought to when-if-they’d tell Roland. She’d spent so much time not planning to tell him, the concept of telling him was foreign.   
“Ah.” She nodded. “And you want to tell him right now?”   
“Well, if we tell him now, I can answer any questions he might have one on one on the way to camp.”   
“Good point.” Regina sighed. “Ok, you go downstairs with Roland. I’m going to tell Henry that we need some time to talk to Roland.”   
“I think he’ll be thrilled.” Robin kissed her. His arms wrapped tighter around her, pulling her against him. “I can’t believe we’re really here, to this point.”   
“Me either.” It still felt so strange to her. She wanted to feel complete, to be as happy as she should have been…but something was still wrong-and she knew it.   
Robin was apparently not noticing. He leaned down to kiss her lips lightly.   
“Go talk to Henry. I’ll be downstairs with the little ones.” With one final kiss, he left her and disappeared down the stairs.   
Pulling herself together, Regina went down the hallway to Henry’s room. She knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open.   
“What’s up?” He looked up from the computer game he was playing.   
“Pause that a second,” Regina settled herself on the edge of his bed, “I need to talk to you.”   
“Is something wrong?” Henry paused the game, turning fully to face her.   
“No,” Regina shook her head. And that was the truth. Roland did need to know he had a little sister. That was good news. “Robin and I need a few minutes to talk to Roland…do you think you could hang out up here until I come up again?”   
“Sure.” Henry nodded. “What’s going on?”   
“Robin thinks it’s best that we tell Roland that Katherine is his sister.”   
“That’s great!” Henry’s face lit up. “Roland should totally know. I think he’ll be so excited. He loves Katherine.”   
“I’m glad.” Regina smiled. “Katherine will have the two best big brothers that a little girl could ever hope to have.”   
“I can’t wait until she’s older.” Henry hadn’t stopped smiled. “I’m going to play games with her, and take her places, and-.” Regina laughed.   
“Henry, you are the sweetest boy I could ever have hoped for. I am so proud of you.” She got up, leaning over to kiss his forehead. “All right, sweetheart, I’ll be back in a little while. And I’ll tell you how it goes.”   
“Good luck.” Henry unpaused his game. 

 

In the living room, Robin was holding Roland on his lap while Katherine reached for a stuffed sheep on her blanket. Roland squirmed off his father’s lap to guide the toy closer to her. Regina had to smile. She hoped Roland would be happy with this news.   
Robin looked over as she sat own beside him.   
“Ready?” He whispered, squeezing her hand. Regina nodded.   
“As I’ll ever be.”   
Robin smiled at her before turning to Roland.   
“Roland, come here.” Roland looked up curiously. He got up from the floor and crawled onto Robin’s lap.   
“Are we going now?”   
“In a minute,” Robin rested his hand on his son’s back, “right now we need to talk to you about something.”   
“Is it about us living here with Regina and Henry?” Roland turned to look over at Regina.   
“Well, sort of. But this is a bit…more important.” Robin shifted his son in his arms. “Do you remember when Regina and I were….” He looked at Regina as he sought his words. “Spending a lot of time together?”   
“Yeah.” Roland was watching his father intently. “Before Mama came home.”   
“Right.” Robin looked at Regina again. She nodded for him to continue. He was explaining this the best he could to a five year old. “Well, while Regina and I were together…she and I decided that we would have a baby.”   
Regina had to wonder if Roland wouldn’t figure it out some day just how accidental Katherine’s conception had been. There had been no “deciding” that they’d have a baby. There had been a quick decision to have sex, which led to Katherine.  
Roland was looking curiously at Robin. Regina nodded a big harder for Robin to go on.   
“Well, that baby we had was Katherine.” Robin looked towards the baby. “So that would mean that Katherine is your little sister.”  
Roland twisted to look down at Katherine. He then looked at Regina and lastly at Robin.   
“So you’re Katherine’s papa too?” Robin nodded.   
“I am.”   
“And she can be my sister even though she doesn’t have my mama?”   
“Right.” Robin pointed in Regina’s direction. “Regina is Katherine’s mama, and I’m her papa, and you and Henry are her brothers.”   
“So….is Henry my brother?” Roland looked like he was taking everything in as best a five year old child could.   
“Well, not exactly.” Robin explained. “Henry is Regina’s son, and Katherine’s brother, but that doesn’t make him your brother.”   
“Why can’t he be my brother too?”   
“Because…” Robin shot her a desperate look. Regina had been trying to stay out of it, but now she figured it was best to help.   
“Your papa and I would have to get married for him to be your brother.” Regina aided. “Then Henry would be your brother.” Roland considered this.   
“Are you going to get married?”   
“I-.” Regina began at the same time Robin said:  
“Some day.” Regina hoped neither he nor Roland caught the look of shock on her face.   
“Does this mean we’re family?” Roland finally asked.  
“We are.” Robin smiled, kissing the top of his son’s head. “We’re all connected to each other over Katherine. And because we have Katherine, we’ll always be together.”   
Roland looked at Regina again and seemed to be thinking. Robin apparently caught the look as well. He stood up, bringing Roland to his hip.   
“Why don’t you and I head off to get our things? We can talk more about this on the way, all right?” Roland nodded.  
“Bye Regina.” He squirmed, reaching for her. She smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.   
“Bye.” Robin kissed her as well before setting Roland on the floor. He put on both their coats and shooed him out of the door.   
As soon as they were gone, Regina slumped against the wall. Was she still tired from being sick, or was she exhausting herself over this entire situation?   
She turned herself back into the living room. Katherine had one of the sheep’s feet in her mouth. She looked at her mother when Regina stooped down to pick her up.   
“Why don’t we go upstairs and Henry can teach you to play his game?” Regina smiled, rubbing Katherine’s back. “Hmm?” She kissed the baby’s forehead and sighed heavily. “We’re doing the right thing…aren’t we Kat?”

When Robin and Roland had returned, Katherine was napping. She’s spent most of the day sitting on her mother’s lap, chewing on a teething ring, while Henry talked Regina through levels of his game.   
“Regina!” Roland wrapped himself around her for a moment before pulling back. “Look!” He held up the ratty and dirty gray monkey. “It’s the monkey you gave me!”   
“I see that.” Regina knelt down and took the toy from the boy’s hands. “But he looks like he could use a bath. Can I wash him for you?” Roland nodded happily.   
“Yes!”   
“Ok then. I promise to have him back by bedtime.” Regina smiled, leaning over to kiss Roland’s cheek.   
“Is Henry upstairs?” Roland looked towards the staircase. Regina nodded.   
“Yes. Just be quiet, ok? Katherine’s sleeping.”   
“Ok.” Roland ran upstairs. Regina stood up, watching as Robin unloaded several packs from his shoulders.   
“Well, how did it go?”   
“Got everything.” Robin pulled her into his arms. “How long has my baby girl been asleep?”   
“Almost two hours.” Regina slipped her arms around his neck. “I can’t imagine she’ll be asleep much longer.”   
“Good.” Robin kissed her lightly. “Then I’m back in time to give her supper.” Regina smiled faintly against his lips. She hated to admit it, but it had felt more natural when it was just she and the children. “I will never get tired of this, Regina.”   
He pressed his forehead against hers and held her tightly. Regina smiled, not sure entirely how to respond when they both heard Katherine’s whimpers from upstairs.   
“Be right back.” Robin kissed her cheek before running off towards the stairwell.   
Regina watched him disappear up the stairs. She had Robin, and Roland. And Katherine had her father-who adored her.   
So why was it so unnatural?


	22. Chapter 22

“You’re not happy.” Tinkerbelle observed as they walked. Regina lowered her head, wishing the blonde hadn’t noticed.   
It was an extremely cold summer, colder than Regina could remember. Maine was not known for its heat waves, but this was ridiculous. Today was the first day the sun was out, and the wind was minimal. The children needed exercise. Regina was watching as Robin played on the playground with Roland and Henry while balancing Katherine in one arm. She wished he’d at least consent to putting Katherine down.  
“Why aren’t you?” Tinkerbelle pressed. “You have everything. Look at the perfect little family you have-3 children, a man who loves you-.”   
“That’s the problem,” Regina grumbled. “Does he love me? Or am I forever going to be a substitute for a dead woman he can’t have?”   
“Are you still on that?!” Tinkerbelle exclaimed, looking over at her in disbelief. “Regina, Marian is dead. And Robin moved on-with you-for the second time.”   
“Because he can’t have Marian.” Regina stopped walking. “If Marian was alive, he’d still be with her. And we both know that. He didn’t want me when she was alive. He wanted Katherine, but not enough to leave his ‘true love’ for her.”   
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you again.” Tinkerbelle seemed to be shaking her head for lack of something to do. “How have you not let this go? Robin loves you.”   
“I’m a very acceptable second choice.” Regina nodded. “And by being with me, he has full access to the baby girl he adores.”  
She’d begun to realize that she was angry-and that was part of the reason why things were not flowing naturally for them. She really could not let go of the fact that he wanted her now because Marian was dead. Maybe it was petty, or bitter, but she couldn’t help how she felt.   
“I’m just not comfortable with him-not fully. Not like I was, once.”   
“You can’t keep holding onto that. You two were meant to be together. And yes, it got a bit more complicated…but still. You’re together now.”  
Regina shook her head, watching Robin playing with the children. She shook her head.   
“I wish he wasn’t holding Katherine was he was running around like that.” She sighed, glancing at her watch. “We should be getting home. It’s going to get cooler as it gets darker.”   
But from where she stood, she could see the Charmings crossing the playground towards them, so she knew there was no chance of leaving soon. She watched Henry bounce away from the group and run over to greet them.   
“Regina,” Tinkerbelle caught her arm gently, “don’t give up on this.” Regina looked over her shoulder at the fairy.   
“I didn’t say I gave up.” She shook her head as she watched Neal join the group on the playground. “I’m not sure what to do. But I know it’s not fair to any of us to live the way we are currently”  
She left the fairy and crossed the playground. Robin smiled as she approached.   
“There’s your mama.” He held Katherine out to her. “Go see Mama.” Regina smiled, taking Katherine from his arms and pulling her closer.   
“We should get home. It’s going to get cold out here.”   
“But they want us to go to dinner with them.” Henry was leaning against David’s side. “Can we?”  
“It’s up to you.” Robin looked at Regina.   
“All right.” Regina kissed Katherine’s cheek. “I guess it won’t hurt anything.” 

 

They were settled on the sofa, just the two of them. Robin’s fingers were brushing her dark hair gently. She should have been enjoying it, but her conversation with Tinkerbelle was weighing on her mind.   
She wanted it out of her head-all of it. She wanted not to be able to think about it any longer. But tonight seemed to be the worst night she’d had thus far.   
“Are we going to talk about what’s bothering you?” Robin shifted her in his arms.   
“What?” Regina looked up at him. “Nothing’s bothering me.”   
“Yes there is.” Robin sighed. “It’s been bothering you all afternoon. You were quiet all through dinner, you were quiet when we got home, and you’re quiet now. Something’s on your mind.”   
Regina stared at the arm of the sofa for a moment, and then turned and looked back at him.   
“Can you not feel how things are between us?”   
“What do you mean?”   
“I mean, can’t you feel how….” She shrugged. “Just unnatural they are?”   
“Unnatural?” Robin raised an eyebrow, moving so he could sit back and face her. “Why do you think they’re unnatural?”   
“It just…something doesn’t feel right.”   
“What brought this on?” Robin’s hand rested on her back. “Did something happen? Did I do something that brought this on?” Regina didn’t look at him. “Regina, what is it?”   
“I…I just…. It’s always been here. Things just aren’t like they were when we were first together.”   
“You mean back before Marian?” Robin sighed in exasperation. He slid to the edge of the couch, resting his head in his hands for a moment. “That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”   
Regina was silent for a long time. They needed to talk about this. It needed to be said. She couldn’t fight it.   
“Yes,” she took a long deep breath. “That’s what I mean.” Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Then Robin shook his head.   
“I don’t know what to tell you. I thought we were passed this. I thought we’d talked about it.”   
“We did.” Regina slumped onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “But I just haven’t…I’ve just never….”   
“You’ll never what?”   
“I’ll never be anything more than a substitute for Marian.” There. It was said. And done.   
“How can you say that?” Robin exclaimed. “How can you keep thinking like that? After all that we’ve-.”   
“After all that we’ve what?” Regina asked him, turning to look at him. “We’ve been together a month. And yes, we were sick, and the children were sick, and we had to contend with that. But other than that? We haven’t been through anything. You walked away from me, for her. And even Katherine couldn’t bring you to me. It wasn’t until Marian was dead that you decided I was what you couldn’t live without.”   
“If you are not going to let this go, this is an impossible situation.” Robin’s anger rose in his tone. “You’ve never given me a bit of credit for-.”   
“And you’ve never given me any.” Regina snapped back. “We had something real, and you threw that away.”   
“For my wife? For my son’s mother?”   
“I’m glad my feelings meant so little to you.” Regina got up from the sofa, spinning to glare down at him. “You never once-.”  
“You cannot blame all this on me-.”   
“Oh I can’t-?”   
“Papa! Regina!” Roland’s excited squeal came from upstairs. “Look at the snow!”   
The child’s voice stopped the argument. Both adults looked up the stairs.   
“He’s supposed to be asleep.” Robin grumbled. “I’ll go check on him. We are not done with this conversation.”  
“Papa!” Roland came running down the stairs. “Did you see the snow?”   
“Roland, it’s June. There’s no snow.” Robin smiled, approaching the boy with his arms outstretched. “You must have been dreaming.”   
“No, it’s outside.” Roland ran to the window, pushing the curtain back. Robin and Regina both turned, and stared, in silence and horror at the snow falling outside of the window.   
“Can I go out and play in it?” He made a move towards the door.   
“No!” Regina exclaimed, a bit too harshly, causing both father and son to stare at her in confusion. “It’s not supposed to snow in June. Something’s wrong.”   
Putting her shoes back on, she grabbed her coat. She shrugged it on as she headed for the door.   
“Oh, he can’t go out in it but you can?” Robin scooped Roland into his arms as he crossed to her. “If it isn’t safe, you need to stay in here.”   
“No, I need to find out what’s going on. Stay here with the children.” Regina passed her hand over Roland’s cheek. “I’ll be back.”


	23. Chapter 24

Regina was in the process of her third set of knocks on the Charmings’ door when it swung open.   
“You are going to wake the baby!” Snow hissed, stepping into the hallway. “I don’t show up at your house and wake up your children!”   
“What is going on outside?” Regina pointed angrily towards the windows. “Why is it snowing?!”   
“How should we know?” David appeared behind Snow. “If anyone in this town should know what’s going on, I’d expect it to be you.”   
“Well I don’t.” Regina was annoyed and frustrated for a number of reasons. She had no idea what was happening outside. Whatever it was, it had interrupted she and Robin at a crucial point. Not that she wanted to be at home arguing with him, but she wanted to resolve it. “But if I don’t know, there is someone else in town who might.”   
The look of realization flashed over both Snow and Charming’s faces.   
“Gold.” David nodded. “Ok, I’ll get my coat and go with you.”   
“Wait.” All three turned to see Emma and Hook coming down the hallway. “We….might know something.”   
“Oh God.” Regina groaned. “Where’s Henry?”   
“I left him at your place. We tried there first. Robin said you’d left.”   
“What did you do now?” Regina was done with the small talk. She wanted to know just what else was going on. “What else have you ruined, Savior?”   
“Regina.” Snow glared at her. “You’re not helping. You don’t know they did anything.”   
“Well….” Emma lowered her eyes, causing both Charmings to freeze. “Regina may not be wrong.”   
“May not be wrong?” David echoed. “Emma, what do you know?”   
“We didn’t want to tell anyone.” Emma immediately began to justify, which made Regina angrier. “We couldn’t….we thought we could handle it.”   
“You brought something else back through that damn portal!” Regain exclaimed. It was the only thing that made sense, the only thing that Emma would have kept from both Regina and her parents. “As if Marian-and measles-weren’t enough, there was something else!”  
“In fairness we didn’t know about the measles.” Hook raised his good hand. “Can’t really blame us for that.”   
“I can do a hell of a lot more than blame you!” Regina took a step towards him. Snow caught her hand.   
“You. Are. Not. Helping.” Snow turned to her daughter. “Emma, did you?”   
“Yes,” Emma answered quietly. “Look, I couldn’t tell you. You’d just had the baby-and he was so little. And you,” she turned to Regina, “with everything with Robin, I….I couldn’t tell you either. And then you found out you were pregnant-and then I really couldn’t tell you for your own sake…. But…besides! We thought we could handle it ourselves.”  
“In the event of something this big-you don’t get to decide what you do or do not tell me!” Regina was ready to send the blonde through a window. “So not only did you bring through a woman who was supposed to be dead, who just happened to be carrying a case of measles that nearly killed half the town-my daughter and I included-you’ve now brought some great secret too?!”   
“Ok, ok, enough.” Snow stepped between the two. “This isn’t solving anything. Emma, what was it?”   
Emma looked over her shoulder at Hook. The pirate was leaning against the wall. He shrugged.   
“This was a bit more of an accident, your Majesty. More like the measles, and less intentional…like Marian.”   
“I don’t care which it was.” Regina growled at him. “What was it?”   
“More like a who.” Emma muttered. “The Ice Queen. Elsa.”   
“Who?” Snow looked immediately at Regina. Regina tried to think.   
“I know the name…she was from another kingdom….became queen after her parents’ death, I think. Why did you bring her back? I don’t remember killing her, so you couldn’t have been saving her from me.”   
“Look, we should probably go down and talk to Mr. Gold about this.” Emma looked at the three confused faces in front of her. “He’s the one she came from, and he’s the one who caught her twice before.”   
Regina didn’t like this-but the town couldn’t get frozen over. And she had other things that needed to be done at home.   
Maybe saving the town was a better option. 

******Scene******

 

Gold and Belle were both in the shop when Regina, Emma, Hook and David entered. Seeing them, Belle immediately slipped away to the back.  
Outside piles of snow had already built up. Ice was coating the trees and the lampposts. Regina had a bad feeling already.   
“Ok, Gold.” Emma pushed her way in, strolling across to him. “What happened?”   
“Can you not see?” Gold pointed towards the windows. “The Ice Queen escaped.”   
“How? You told us you had her sealed up again. You told us that no one else had to know.” Emma motioned behind her to Regina and David. “And obviously others know now.”   
“Ok, first, do you want to tell us who she is?” Regina moved to stand beside Emma. “And why you had her trapped?”   
“I’m surprised you don’t know her, your Majesty.” Gold gave her a confused look. “She had a reputation for freezing entire villages in her kingdom. She would have been your type.”   
“Why did you trap her?” Regina brushed off the comment. She had too much on her mind to deal with than fighting with him.   
“All right,” Gold sighed. “Back in our land, the Ice Queen had power that I wanted. Unfortunately, that power was uncontrollable-at least by her. I thought, if I took it from her, I could use it for….better purposes.”   
“And I’m going to guess she didn’t want to give it up.” David glanced at Regina, who nodded.   
“Quite the contrary, she did. She felt it was dangerous. But the only way for me to contain her power, was to contain her. And that was the best place I knew.”   
“So somehow she got through the portal with,” Regina motioned over her shoulder, “these two. And now she’s angry?”   
“Well, she’s not pleased with me. Because while she was gone, her sister disappeared.”   
“And she thinks she’s here?”   
“Regina, I don’t know what she thinks.” Gold gave the impression that this conversation was boring him. “I didn’t bother to ask. I had to contain her again before she successfully froze the entire town.”   
“How did she get out?” Emma demanded. “You said-.”   
“I know what I said.” Gold’s look became more disproving at every moment. “But someone either let her out-or her magic is that unpredictable.”   
“If her magic is unpredictable, then we have to stop her.” Regina glanced back towards the door, which was now coated with a layer of ice.   
“Wait!” Emma reached out and laid a hand on Regina’s arm. “Just wait. Maybe we can help her. Help her get what she wants?”   
“Are you insane?!” Regina snapped, turning to face the other woman. “Are you absolutely out of your mind? If she is dangerous, we cannot have her running around the town.”   
“She’s not dangerous!” Emma looked at the others, motioning towards the door. “It’s just a little snow! Snow’s not dangerous just…weird…in June. The last time, no one even noticed because of the weather!”   
“Actually, she is a bit dangerous, deary.” Gold stepped closer to Emma. “Given that her magic is unpredictable, if someone gets hit with one of her spells, the results could be….upleasant.”   
“Unpleasant how?” Emma asked, her blue eyes serious. “Unpleasant dead or unpleasant hurt?”  
“Does it matter?!” Regina couldn’t believe she was actually hearing this conversation. Actually, no, that wasn’t true. She could believe she was hearing it which was the problem. “Miss Swan, our son is in this town. Are you willing to take a risk that he’s going to be injured in any fashion?”   
“Of course not!” Emma turned from Gold back to Regina. “I’d never put Henry into danger.”   
“No, just my daughter.” Regina glared at her, folding her arms over her chest. “In the last year you have cost my daughter her father. Brought a woman into this town who gave her a near fatal case of the measles. And now you’re willing to let this ice queen have full access to her and the rest of the children in this town until you can help her.”   
“Regina, I never meant to hurt Katherine-not in all of this! I could never have known you were pregnant-you didn’t know you were pregnant!”  
“Not that that would have stopped you from doing the supposed right thing!” Regina snapped back.   
“Ok, ok, you two are way off topic.” David took a step forward, grabbing Emma’s arm. “Stop it. Now.”  
“We’re not off topic.” Regina wasn’t entirely sure with whom she was more angry at the moment. “She would rather try and help someone dangerous rather than stop someone who could destroy the entire town!”   
“Enough.” David gave Regina a hard stare. “None of this is helping. What do we do?”   
He turned his attention to Gold. Grumbling, Regina reluctantly turned. Gold looked annoyed. Their arguing was clearly wasting his time.   
“We retrap Elsa. For now, that’s the best we do. In her own selfish way, Regina is right. We stop her for now. Once we stop her, then we can worry about Emma’s desire to reunite Elsa with her family.”   
“Great.” Regina rolled her eyes.   
“Fine.” Emma muttered.  
“All right.” David turned Emma toward the door. “Let’s go.”


	24. Chapter 24

Snow was swirling around the group. It was dark, and a cold wind was blowing strongly through the streets. Regina reminded herself it was June, not January. It didn’t make her feel any better. She pulled her coat tighter around her, ducking her face into the collar.   
“Where is she?” David asked, glancing back at Gold. Fortunately, no one else had ventured out in this weather. Regina wondered if she should let Robin know she was all right. She almost immediately decided against it. She didn’t want to have this conversation just yet.   
“Just…follow the trail of ice.” Gold pointed to the ground. “Fortunately, the Ice Queen doesn’t hide well.”   
“I could melt this.” Regina grumbled.   
“No, you can’t.” Gold countered. “It’s her magic against yours. If you try, it’ll only come back again.”   
In truth, she should have taken his word for it. He would know, after all. But she wasn’t.   
“I could still-.”   
“Wait.” David held up his hand, stopping as he stared ahead. “What’s that?”   
“Appears you found her.” Gold slipped up to stand beside the prince.   
Ahead of them, a bluish white light was shining through the darkness. Regina noticed that the ice on the lampposts was thicker there. It hung in heavy icicles while the snow swirled heavily.   
Regina raised her hand, conjured a fireball. The ball radiated heat for a second before turning into nothing more than a handful of ice.   
“What-?”   
“Do not under estimate her.” Gold gave Regina a pointed look. “Come on, but stay back.” 

As they moved closer, Regina could make out a blonde woman with her back to them. Her hair fell in one long braid over the back of her blue gown. As the small group approached, she turned.   
“Rumplestiltskin. You continue to fail to keep me.”   
“Elsa,” Gold began, “this is no good for any of us. Let me get you out of here.”   
“And imprison me again? I think not.”   
“Look, we just need a little bit of time.” Emma stepped forward. “We just need some time to help you-to locate your family. Then we’ll be able to send you home.”   
“Is that what he told you?” The woman took a step towards them, pointing to Gold. “And you believed him?”  
“No, really.” Emma assured her. “I’m promising you-we’ll find your sister.” Emma looked helpless at Regina and David. Regina shrugged, shaking her head.   
The Ice Queen was staring at them one by one. Regina sensed hesitation in her eyes. She was thinking it over, considering. Was this actually about to work?  
Suddenly her eyes hardened. She shook her head.   
“I’ll trust nothing that comes from that man.” She waved a hand.   
“Move!” Gold commanded, instantly twisting around.   
Regina and David turned at the same moment. Regina felt as though the world was moving in slow motion. David turned right while she turned left. The flash of blue light that came at them barely missed her right arm. It hit her chest and part of David’s right arm.   
Regina flinched in the same moment David cried out. It felt like digging bare skin directly into snow. Her breath vanished from her lungs. Regina heard herself gasping as she instantly went down to her knees in the fresh snow.   
“Regina!” Emma was at her side. “You ok?”   
“Tell me that spell didn’t hit you.” Gold was looking at her with a strange expression. Regina didn’t like that expression at all. Without answering him, her hand went to her chest, rubbing the now cold patch she felt through her gloves.   
“Regina, where did it hit you?” Gold repeated, his eyes burning into hers.   
“Well it hit me.” David held out his arm. The sleeve of his jacket was coated with a layer of frost.   
“That’s easy to fix.” Gold muttered, his eyes still on Regina.   
“Where’s Elsa?” Emma looked into the distance.   
“We’ll find her later.” Gold put his hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “Right now, we may have bigger issues.” 

******Scene*****

Gold had insisted that they return to Snow and Charming’s. Regina wasn’t sure why, but she did know he’d held her arm the entire way. She couldn’t stop the cold feeling in her chest. It ached, throbbed. And the strangest sensation was that it seemed as though the cold was spreading.   
Inside the flat, Regina watched as Snow fussed over Charming. Gold, however, half dragged her across the room.   
“Where did it hit?” He demanded again.   
Not that it wasn’t obvious. The front of Regina’s coat was covered in frost. Slowly, she pealed it off. Gold frowned at the front of her blouse.   
“What is it?” Regina looked down.   
“Sorry about this.” He looked at her. “But I have to look at your heart.”   
His hand went into her chest. Regina gasped. Gold was powerful enough to do it no matter what she might have done to prevent it.   
He withdrew his hand, with her heart in it. Regina gasped again-but this time for an entirely different reason.   
Her heart was still reddish/black as it should have been, but it was clearly coated with something blue/gray.   
“Ice.” Regina whispered.   
“Spell hit your chest, which means it hit your heart.” Gold frowned. “Regina, that’s a much, much, more dangerous thing to undo. A frozen heart is bad.”  
Regina didn’t know exactly how bad it was, but she knew full well it wasn’t good.   
“You said David’s was easy to fix.” Regina pointed to the other man. “Fix mine like you’d fix his.”   
“I can’t.” Gold told her. “That’s part of the danger in Elsa’s magic. Frozen hearts don’t unthaw easily.”  
“Well what unthaws them?” Regina hissed. “There has to be something.”   
“I don’t know.” Gold whispered.   
“I’m sorry, say that again?” Regina couldn’t believe that Gold-of all people-didn’t know what unthawed a frozen heart.   
“I’ve never seen it done with one of her spells, ok?” Gold glanced nervously at the others in the room. “I’m sorry. I’ll find her, and I’ll find out. But until then, you need to stay inside.”   
“I’m not staying-.”   
“We don’t know the full extent of that spell.” Gold warned. “Something worse could happen-.”   
They both suddenly realized that the rest of the room was quiet. Both turned to see the other four people staring at them.   
“Regina, what’s going on?” Snow asked.   
“Nothing.” Regina took her heart from Gold’s hand, wincing as she pressed it back into her chest.  
“Regina was hit in the chest by one of Elsa’s spells.” Gold looked back at Regina. “It froze her heart.”   
“But I thought you could fix this.” David was holding his arm.   
“I can fix yours.” Gold informed him. “I can’t fix Regina’s.”   
There was momentary silence. Emma looked the most uncomfortable. Finally, she spoke.   
“So what does this mean?”   
“It means Regina’s going to die if we don’t get the spell broken.” 

She’d expected him to say something along these lines. He wasn’t acting like a man with good news to deliver. Her fingers had moved to her chest, where they were unconsciously rubbing the frozen area.   
“So what happens next?” Regina asked.   
“The cold will spread. You’ll get colder. Eventually, it’ll spread to your limbs, and then through your entire body until you’re completely frozen.”   
“So there’s time.” Emma had her typical determination in her voice.   
“There is time.” Gold agreed. “But we have to hurry.”  
“Elsa has to undo the spell, right?” Emma didn’t sound convinced. “That’s all?”   
“Elsa can’t undo the spell.” Gold sighed, moving towards David. “That’s the problem with her magic. She doesn’t understand it, so she can’t control it. That’s what makes her so dangerous.”   
“So now we have to stop her for another reason.” Emma stared at Regina. Regina shrugged.   
“If you don’t, I guess you finally get Henry all to yourself.” Emma’s face fell. Before she could speak, Gold waved his hand, unthawing David’s arm. David wrapped a hand around it, rubbing the spot.   
There was a knock on the door. Snow moved quickly to open it. She stepped aside, letting Henry inside. He was carrying Katherine, asleep in her car seat, in one hand while Robin came behind him carrying a sleeping Roland. He had his bow, quiver and Katherine’s bag over one shoulder. It was an odd combination only Robin could pull off.   
“What are you doing here?” Regina left Gold and went to Henry. She brushed her hand over his head, wiping away the snow from his hair.   
“We needed to come find you.” Henry told her, handing over Katherine. “We were worried.”   
“Did we have reason to be?” Robin was looking suspiciously at the frost on the front of Regina’s chest.   
“Henry, it’s late.” Regina rubbed his arm gently. “Why don’t you go upstairs to bed?”   
“Yeah,” Emma echoed. “Go ahead, kid.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead.   
“Put Roland into bed.” Regina jerked her head towards the bed. “Then we’ll…talk.”   
Robin’s look told his suspicion, but he did as she suggested. Regina put Katherine’s carrier on the table. She reached over and stroked Katherine’s chest. She took in the vision of her sleeping daughter. A strange fear began to creep through her. If Elsa wasn’t stopped, would her baby lose her mother?  
“What’s happened?” Robin shot a look to where Henry had disappeared. “What’s this?” He motioned to Regina’s chest.   
“I was hit….with a spell. It’s-.” Regina began, but Gold cut her off.   
“If you were going to say ‘it’s nothing’ it certainly isn’t, your Majesty.” Gold turned to face Robin. “We’re up against the Ice Queen, Elsa. Obviously, she can control the weather.”   
“So what’s wrong with Regina?” Robin glanced between the two. His face read concern and suspicion.   
“The spell that hit Regina froze her heart. She’ll freeze to death from the inside out if we don’t stop her.”   
That was apparently all Robin needed to hear. He spun to Regina, his eyes wide.   
“Is this true?”   
“Unfortunately.” Regina muttered, lowering her eyes.   
“Then we have to do something.” Robin was now looking around the room at the others. “Why aren’t we doing something?”   
“We were just about to head back out.” Gold started for the door, but paused with his hand on Regina’s shoulder. “Not you.”   
“Yes, me.” Regina pulled out of his grasp. Gold leaned into her ear, close enough she could feel his breath when he whispered to her.   
“Stay with your baby. You don’t know how much time you’ll have with her.”   
That did it. Regina’s head shot up.   
“I’ll stay with Katherine.” She nodded to Robin. “Go ahead.”   
“You’re sure you’ll be all right?” Robin took her hands, squeezing them. Regina shook her head.   
“No, I’m not.”   
“Robin, let’s go.” Gold motioned to the door. Emma, Hook and David followed.   
As the door closed, Regina leaned over Katherine, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.   
“Regina,” Snow began.   
“Save it.” Regina murmured, breathing in Katherine’s scent. “I don’t want to hear it right now.”


	25. Chapter 25

Regina was pacing. Katherine was cuddled into her arms. She didn’t feel well-and that was what was scaring her.   
She was cold. Snow had turned up the heat, but it wasn’t helping. It was making her muscles ache, making them tense and stiff.   
Was this really happening? Was she really freezing to death?   
Katherine’s weight was warm and comforting. Regina was clinging to the baby for her own security. Gold’s last words to her were echoing ominously in her ears.   
She could not leave Katherine without her mother. It could not happen. Katherine was her baby. Regina was the only mother she had. As much as she hated to admit it, if something happened to her, Henry still had Emma. But Katherine, Katherine wouldn’t have a mother at all. Leave her baby alone in this world? In this town? She couldn’t let it happen.   
“Do you want some tea? Coffee?” Snow asked. She was standing near Neal’s crib, glancing back at him every so often. Regina shook her head.   
“No….thank you.”   
“It might…help.”   
“It won’t.” Regina shivered, visibly enough that Snow could see it. She saw the pained expression on Snow’s face. “Snow please. Just-.” Regina shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”   
“I know. I understand.” Snow turned, went back to Neal. “I can set up Neal’s bassinet. Katherine can sleep there if she needs to.”   
Regina closed her eyes, shaking her head. She had spent much of Katherine’s life with the baby sleeping on her. If tonight was the last….  
“I’m not good at putting her down.” Regina sighed, kissing Katherine’s cheek.   
“I don’t blame you.” Snow smiled as she leaned down to kiss her own baby.   
They were silent for a long time. Regina continued to feel strange. Inside of her black boots, her toes were beginning to feel as though she’d been outside in sub-zero temperatures. She tried flexing them. They moved, but they were still so numb.   
“What’s wrong?” Snow must have noticed the expression on her face. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”   
Regina was in no mood to lie.   
“Yes.” She whispered. “Here, take Katherine for a second.”   
Snow didn’t argue. She took Katherine out of Regina’s arms. Regina went to the couch, sat down. She unzipped her boots. She wrapped her cold fingers around her colder toes, rubbing, trying to bring the warmth back.   
It wasn’t coming.   
“Let’s get you a blanket.” Snow placed Katherine gently in her carrier. Regina drew up her knees, rested her forehead on them.   
How could this be happening? Was she dying? She didn’t know. Couldn’t be sure. But this was definitely wrong, and she definitely felt bad.   
Snow brought her a blanket and Regina wrapped it around her. She didn’t even feel better when Katherine was tucked back in her arms.   
Something was bothering Katherine. When Regina held her, she squirmed. Regina frowned as a realization hit her.   
“She’s cold. I’m making her cold.”   
“Regina, no you’re-.” But Katherine was squirming away from her mother and whimpering as she pushed with tiny hands. Regina looked sadly at Snow. “Ok, ok we can fix this.”   
Snow retrieved another blanket, this time bundling Katherine in it before she passed her back to her mother. That seemed to settle Katherine a bit.   
“Thank you.” Regina murmured, curling herself into the corner of the couch.   
“I wish I could do more.” Snow looked at her stepmother. Regina sat quietly for a moment, staring at the baby, before turning to Snow.   
“There is something you can do.” Regina hesitated. She didn’t want to say what she was thinking. “You can help Robin take care of Katherine.”   
“Regina-!”   
“Snow, listen,” Regina warned carefully. “I’m just saying…it could happen.”   
“It won’t happen.”   
“It might.” Regina sighed, not believing she was going to say this for a number of reasons. “Katherine likes you. She’s let you hold her since day one. She’ll trust you. Let her look up to you. And I’m sure if Robin has his way, she’ll be running wild in the forest with the rest of his Merry Men. You can help her find a balance between princess and…outlaw.”  
Snow chuckled at that.   
“Ok, don’t worry.” She looked at Regina seriously. “Don’t worry-I mean it. Everything will be all right. They’re going to stop this Ice Queen-and reverse her spell.   
Regina was not overly convinced. And by the way she was feeling, they didn’t have much time. 

****Scene******

It was getting worse. Far worse. Regina’s fingers were going numb, and her toes were long since done. She had wrapped a second blanket around her, but it wasn’t helping.   
“How about some tea?” Snow suggested. “It’ll warm you up.”   
“No.” Regina rocked Katherine closer.   
“At least try.” Snow got up. “You are going to at least try it.”   
Regina watched her go, and then turned sadly back to Katherine.  
“Darling, I don’t know how much time I have.” She whispered against the baby’s ear. “If something does happen to me, you have to know how much I love you.”   
Regina fought back tears. Was she really about to say goodbye to her daughter? She was. She was afraid that they would fail, and that by failing she would die. And that would leave Katherine alone in this town without her mother.   
“I have loved you since the moment I found out you were coming.” Regina pulled the baby to her. “You and your brother are the best things that have ever happened to me. I don’t deserve either of you.”   
She paused, pressing her lips against Katherine’s forehead.   
“I want you to understand: it wasn’t your father’s fault he wasn’t around much. Your father is a good man-an honorable man-and he loves you. He loves you very, very much. And he is going to take good care of you no matter what.”   
Regina fought back choking on her tears. The lump was swelling her throat. She swallowed a few times, forcing it down as best she could. Fortunately, Katherine’s eyes remained closed. She continued sleeping peacefully, as usual not realizing her mother was pouring out her heart to her.   
“Katherine, the only thing I want you to know-the only thing I want you to know your mother wanted for you-was to be happy. Darling, don’t let anyone chose your happiness for you. You make your own happiness. If you can do that, then you’ll have made me proud.”   
She buried her face into the baby’s blanket. Katherine stirred, yawing and opening her eyes a little. Regina stared at her face-memorizing it. Katherine would never remember her mother. She’d never know she had a mother who loved her so much.   
“Here.” Snow softly placed a cup of tea on the end table beside Regina. “Drink this.”   
Regina turned, raised her head to look up at Snow.   
“You have to promise me.”   
“Promise you what?” Snow asked gently.   
“You know what it’s like to grow up without a mother. You have to be there for her. Let her know she isn’t alone.”   
“Oh Regina.” Snow’s eyes closed. She apparently realized just how serious Regina was about this mess.   
“Snow,” Regina stared at her, “at least you remember your mother. Katherine…Katherine won’t have that.”   
Snow laid her hand on Regina’s shoulder, squeezing gently.   
“I promise you, Katherine will never be alone. And she will know all about you.” Regina gave her a half smile.   
“There might be a few things you want to leave out.” Snow smiled, but shook her head no.   
“No. She’ll need to know how far her mother came. But Regina, please, don’t give up.”   
“I haven’t. Not entirely. I’m just…prepared. Just in case.”   
“I’d do the same, if it was me. Now at least give the tea a chance.” 

***Scene**

It was so much worse. Every now and then, pain would shoot through her arms or legs. It was like leaving exposed flesh in snow or ice water. Regina bit her lower lip to keep from crying.   
Katherine was cold, and she did not want her mother holding her. But even through her cries, Regina wasn’t ready to let go of her daughter.   
Snow was leaning over the back of the couch, watching. They’d done everything they could think of. The baby was tucked between two blankets, in addition to the two now wrapped around Regina.   
“Why don’t we put her to bed?” Snow asked, stroking Katherine’s cheek. “She’s probably tired. She’s not used to being awake in the middle of the night.”   
“None of us are.” Regina sighed. She hated to see Katherine crying. “Here. Take her, just….take her.”   
Snow’s face brimmed with sympathy as she scooped Katherine out of her mother’s arms.   
“It’s all right, darling.” Snow murmured, bouncing the baby gently. “Mama will be back in the morning. You both just need some rest now.”   
Regina’s tears finally spilled over her cheeks as she watched. Who exactly was Snow trying to comfort? Would Regina be awake in the morning to feed her baby? Would she see her wake? Things were not getting better, so it was an obvious possibility.   
“Mom?” Henry appeared in the room. “Why is Katherine crying?”   
Regina knew that meant the baby had been crying for a while because Henry almost always slept through her fussing.   
“It’s all right, Henry. Just go back to sleep.” Regina was glad Roland was still sleeping. But she supposed after all that time of sleeping in the woods, he could probably sleep through anything.   
“Mom? What’s wrong?” Henry moved closer to the couch. Regina closed her eyes. She knew her son would figure out something was up. Regina didn’t let Katherine cry, she always comforted her immediately. If Katherine was still screaming, something was wrong.   
“Henry,” Regina turned to look at him, “come here.”   
Henry approached the couch, the look on his face becoming more fearful as he did.   
“Mom? Did something happen?” Henry sat down beside her, taking in the look of his mother with her knees drawn to her chest and a blanket clutched around her.   
“I…didn’t want to tell you before.” Regina turned to face him, raising one cold hand to rest on his cheek. Henry looked at it, frowned.   
“You’re freezing.” Regina nodded tearfully.   
“Exactly. Henry, I was hit by one of the Ice Queen’s spells. It froze my heart-which is bad. And it’s getting worse.”   
Henry seemed to consider, and then looked worried.   
“So what does that mean?”   
“I….” Regina frowned. “I don’t know how bad it could get.”   
That was a lie. She knew what was going to happen. But saying it to Katherine was one thing, saying it to a boy old enough to understand was entirely different.   
“But you’re going to be ok?”   
“As long as they stop the Ice Queen, yes, everything will be fine.” Regina smiled firmly.   
“And if they don’t….” Henry’s voice trailed off as he stared into her eyes. Regina lowered hers from his. “Mom!”   
“Henry.” Regina looked back at him. “I need you to be strong right now, all right?”   
“But Mom-.”   
“Henry.” Regina repeated. “I mean it. Please. I need you to stay strong not just for me, for you, but for Katherine and Roland too. And Robin.”   
“Mom,” Henry looked really frightened now, as if everything his mother was saying became more and more obvious each second. Regina wanted to do something. Parents were supposed to comfort frightened children, not make it worse by telling them that they were probably dying. Regina did the only thing she could think to do and reached for him, pulling him into her arms.   
“Oh Henry.” She sighed, rubbing his back gently. “Henry, darling, you have to know how proud I am of you.”   
“Mom-.” He pulled back, but Regina shook her head, laying one finger against his lips.   
“Let me say this. Please. Just…just in case.” Henry frowned, but didn’t argue with her.   
“You have been such an absolute wonder in my life.” Regina traced one hand over his cheek. “From the time you were a baby. I have always thought I could never love you more, and then I do.” She smiled, tears brimming her eyes. “You have grown into such a wonderful young man. All I ever wanted was for you to succeed, and you’re doing it. I know you are going to grow up to be a wonderful man someday. I have no doubt of that-ever.”   
One tear left Henry’s right eye. He knew she was saying goodbye-preparing them both for it.   
“I am because of you.” He said, wiping his eye. “Because of everything you did for me. If you hadn’t adopted me-.”   
“I know.” Regina pushed his hair off of his forehead. “I know. But I did, and we had a good life together. Now, now, you have Emma. And your grandparents. And Katherine. You have a family who loves you very very much. I need you to be a good brother to Katherine. Teach her, guide her. If…if something happens to me…it won’t be easy for her to grow up without a mother.”   
“I would never leave Katherine.” Henry told her, his eyes too serious for a boy not much beyond a child. “Mom, I promise.”   
Regina hugged him tightly again. She’d said goodbye to him once in her life-before Pan’s curse could reach them. When she’d gotten him back, she’d sworn they’d never be apart again. She’d never even thought about dying.   
Maybe it wouldn’t happen. Maybe she’d be ok, that they’d reverse the spell. But deep inside of her, she didn’t trust it…didn’t really believe it.   
“Wait.” Henry jerked away from her. “You were hit by the Ice Queen’s spell, right?”  
“Yes…” Regina began suspiciously.   
“Then you need to kiss me.”   
“What?” Regina smiled at him. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for.   
“Kiss me. You have to.” It wasn’t a hard request, so she did. Leaning over, she pressed her lips against his forehead. Henry waited a moment, and then pulled back, looking at her anxiously. “How do you feel?”   
Regina smiled sadly at him, shaking her head.   
“No different, Henry.” Henry thought for a moment, and then looked around frantically.   
“Katherine. You need to kiss Katherine.”   
“Henry, what are you doing?” Regina ran her fingers over his face gently.   
“True love’s kiss. It breaks every spell. If I won’t do it, then it must be Katherine.”  
“I’m sorry to tell you,” Regina sighed, “that I already kissed Katherine and nothing happened.” Henry’s face fell.   
“But Mom-. It has to.”   
“Not all magic works the same.” Regina loved what he was trying to do-loved how desperately he believed. And in truth, it wasn’t a terrible idea. But if Katherine and Henry couldn’t break the spell, no one could.   
“You’re so sweet.” She felt the pride gleaming through her till she was nearly glowing with it. “I love you so much.” Instantly, she reached for him to pull him to her once more. Henry’s arms slipped around her and he clung like he hadn’t in ages.  
“Ok,” Regina smiled as she pulled back. “One of us needs to get some sleep tonight, so go back to bed, ok?” Henry looked nervously at Snow.   
“You’ll be here in the morning?” Regina didn’t know how to answer that. Regardless, she forced her smile harder and nodded.   
“Yes, I’ll be here.” In some form at least….   
“Ok.” That seemed to convince her boy-at least for the moment. He kissed her cheek and got up, heading upstairs. “Night Grandma.”   
“Good night, Henry.” Snow smiled.   
Once Henry was gone, Regina covered her face with her hands.   
“Regina, no matter what…he’s going to be fine.” She felt Snow’s hand on her shoulder. Regina’s tears were flowing down her cheeks. She shook her head.   
“I just hope that wasn’t the final goodbye I’ve said to him.” 

******Scene*******

 

Regina was curled into a ball on the sofa. She had two wool blankets wrapped around her, but neither was fighting off the chill. She shivered as a tremor hit her body. It stopped and went back to bone numbing aches.   
Her fingers moved, but it was with effort. She felt like she had years before, when she’d been playing in the snow with Henry. Only this time it was much worse, much more serious.   
The front door banged open. She heard voices, footsteps, before one was close to her.   
“Regina?” Robin stood in front of the couch looking down at her. She turned onto her back, looking up at him as she pulled the blankets tighter around her. One look at her and worried lines formed on his face.   
“It didn’t work!” He exclaimed, looking at someone in the other part of the room that Regina couldn’t see. “You said if we trapped her it would work!”   
“I said it might reverse the magic. I didn’t say anything was certain.” Gold answered him.   
“Well it clearly isn’t.” Robin motioned to Regina.   
“That was obvious when the entire town was still frozen over.” Gold sounded frustrated. Robin threw up his hands, shrugged his shoulders.   
“Well, in that case, we’ve no other choice. We kill her.”   
“No! Wait!” Emma’s obvious cry. Even in her weakened condition, Regina wasn’t surprised. “We have to find another way. We can’t just kill her.”   
Regina didn’t like the look on Robin’s face. She’d never seen it before. She’d seen him angry and frustrated, but this look was a combination of both in addition to….something else that she couldn’t quite identify.   
“With all due respect, Miss Swan, I think you’ve done enough, and it’s time we start trying someone else’s plans.”   
“But Robin, I-.”   
“I get it.” Robin spat. “You’re the ‘savior.’ You are here to save this entire town. Therefore, we are all just supposed to fall over and listen to you because your way will always work out because you’re the hero.”   
“That’s not what I-.”   
“Well I, for one, have seen just how badly you can ruin things with your heroic efforts. And I’m not in the mood to see you do it again.”   
“Excuse me?” The surprise left Emma’s voice and now she seemed hurt. “I thought you’d be grateful. I saved your wife.”   
“Do not get me wrong, Miss Swan.” Robin’s light eyes held Emma’s. “I am grateful that I had a bit more time with Marian, and Roland and I at least got to say goodbye this time. But what I am not grateful for is the guilt, and the pain, that you caused both Regina and myself.”   
“Marian was your wife!” Emma sounded shocked at Robin’s words. “Why wouldn’t you want her back?”   
“Because what you did ruined everything between Regina and I!” Robin’s words seemed to hang over the room. “And when I was supposed to be happy with Marian, I had to watch the other woman I loved suffer. Your supposed heroic actions cost me months with my daughter. I should think that you of all people would know what going without a child is like.” Robin’s face was set: cold and angry. He shot a quick glimpse at Regina, and then shook his head. “I’m going back there-and this time I’m not just containing a threat.”   
“You’re talking about killing a woman!” Emma argued, the anxiety choking her voice.   
“And you’re talking about letting another die.” Robin snapped back angrily. He motioned to Regina. “One who took in the son you gave up-raised him, fed him, and loved him-when you decided you couldn’t do it. One who has been willing to give up her life for a town full of people she doesn’t even like countless times. Most importantly, you are talking about taking a mother away from her children. You grew up without your parents, do you wish that on Katherine and Henry? Regina may have been the villain, but Katherine is not. And I will not stand for one of your supposed ‘heroic’ plans to save a woman you barely know taking my daughter’s mother from her.”   
“Robin-.” Emma’s tone registered a faint amount of defeat, and Regina had to smile. She was smiling both from the defeated tone she had never heard before, and from the fact that Robin was the only other one in this town who had managed to call Emma out on her failed attempts at glory.   
“I’m not in the mood for heros tonight.” Robin told her, adjusting his arrows on his shoulder. “Saving Regina is the only thing I care about.”   
He dropped down beside her, and Regina looked up at him as he took her hands.   
“I love you.” He whispered. “I am not going to lose you. Don’t worry, Regina. Everything’s going to be ok come dawn.”   
Regina nodded, giving him a faint smile. Robin squeezed her hands before standing up. He disappeared from the room, slamming the door behind him as he left the loft.   
Regina closed her eyes, listening for the sounds of the others. She heard a few quick words and then footsteps and the door closing.   
After a moment, she opened her eyes, waiting a moment before speaking.   
“I’m sorry.”   
“What?” Snow asked, suddenly appearing at her side.   
“I’m sorry.” Regina repeated. “That must have been hard to hear-that not everyone is thrilled with your daughter’s actions.” Snow turned her head away. Regina saw the sadness in her eyes.   
“Robin’s upset.” Snow turned back to Regina, laying her hands over Regina’s. “And he has every right to be. The woman he loves is dying.”   
Regina turned back onto her side, tucking her cold hands under her head. She was the woman Robin loved, she was the woman he was so angry about the prospect of losing. She didn’t have the strength for doubts or questions now. Right now she just wanted to relish in the idea that she was dying with someone in this world who loved her that much. 

***Scene****

When Regina awoke, a blonde woman she didn’t know was leaning over her. The woman was only the first of her confusion. She hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep, and waking up now was hard. She was groggy, her body cold and muscles stiff. She tried to shake herself awake, but she knew how far gone she was and that at this point, it might be impossible.   
“I’m sorry.” The blonde was shaking her head, and Regina saw the grief on her face. “I can’t undo this.”   
“You have to!” Robin’s voice exclaimed. “You have to! You were able to unthaw the town!”   
“That was only with Anna’s help.” The woman looked at Robin with horribly sad eyes. “That I’ve done before. I’ve never….I’ve never undone…this.”   
“So you’ve done this before?!” Robin snapped.   
“I-. Just once.” Her head lowered. “That time, our parents took her to-.”   
“There’s no time for that-not for any of that.” Robin was standing at the foot of the sofa, and Regina could see the desperation on his face.   
“I’m sorry.” The blonde-who had to be the Ice Queen Elsa-looked at Regina, and then over at Robin. “I’m so sorry. Frozen hearts are different…and much, much worse.”   
“No.” Robin moved to the woman’s side, moving her away from Regina and dropping to the sofa. “No. There has to be some-.” A look of realization settled onto his face. “Her heart.” He turned to Gold. “She can live without her heart. If you take it out, she can live without it until we find a cure. It might buy her some time.”   
“No.” Regina shook her head weakly, startling both Gold and Robin.   
“’No’?” Robin asked. “What do you mean no? It could save your life, Regina!”   
But Regina was looking at Gold, who stood behind Robin at the end of the couch. She shook her head as she held his eyes.   
“I would rather die than live like my mother.” Robin looked from Regina and then back to Gold.   
“What is she-?”   
“It won’t work.” Gold was looking at Regina, and gave her a subtle nod of understanding. “Not permanently at least. The longer she goes without it, it will harden her, turn her into what she was before-or worse.” Gold shook his head. “Robin, I know you want to save her, but that will not save the Regina you love.” Regina took one of his hands in hers, squeezing it as best she could.   
“I don’t want to risk doing that to you-or to Katherine.” Robin wrapped his hand around hers, squeezing it tightly. She saw the tears in his eyes.   
“But there’s no other way.” He whispered. “I don’t know any other way.”   
“I know.” Regina whispered. “I don’t know one either.” She stroked his hand a moment, and then sighed. “Robin, you need to listen to me. You’re about to be alone with two small children who won’t understand what happened.”  
Robin squeezed his eyes shut, but it didn’t stop the first of his tears from slipping down the corner.   
“Regina-.”   
“Robin.” She shook her head. “Just stop. Listen to me. Katherine’s small-smaller than Roland was when he lost his mother. Let others help you. She’s good with Snow, and Granny, and Ruby. I know it won’t be easy, but I know you can do it. And Roland, he became so attached to me….a loss like this will be so hard on him.”   
Robin’s fingers tightened around hers. His tears soaked his cheeks, flowing into rivers he wiped away with the back of his opposite hand.   
“Regina, I can’t. Not without you.”   
“You don’t have a choice.” Regina laughed softly. “It’s going to happen. Robin, Katherine was born in this world. She can leave Storybrooke if she wants to. Push her, encourage her, but let her pick what will make her happy. All I want is for her to find her happiness…the happiness her mother never truly had.”   
Robin closed his eyes for a minute, and Regina watched him fight for his composure. When he opened them again, he laid his hand on her forehead.   
“I’m sorry, Regina. I’m so sorry.”   
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You did all you could.”   
“No,” Robin shook his head, “not for that. I’m sorry for everything that happened between us. I was wrong. It wasn’t fair to pick one woman and child over another. It wasn’t fair of me to push away our feelings like they never existed.”   
Now, tears were forming in Regina’s eyes. She shook her head as they spilled over her frost coated cheeks.   
“It wasn’t all your fault. I shouldn’t have kept Katherine from you. She was your daughter too-not some consolation prize because I couldn’t have you.”   
“It doesn’t matter.” Robin whispered. “I love you so much, Regina. I never stopped. I wish I could have fixed things between us.”   
“It doesn’t matter now.” Regina laid her fingers on his cheek. “There’s nothing we can do to change anything.”   
She was tired, sleepy really, to the point her eyes didn’t want to stay open any more. She looked up at Robin, met his eyes for a moment and smiled.   
“I love you.” She drew her fingers down his cheek and let her hand fall on her stomach.   
Her eyes closed. Regina settled herself into the pillow beneath her head. She wanted to sleep, but she knew what sleep meant. And at this point, there was no point in fighting it. So she simply waited for sleep to come as she thought of the boy she would never see grow into a man and the infant she would never see grow into a little girl.


	26. Chapter 26

Regina was so unbelievably cold. Her skin looked like porcelain the way the frost coated over it. Her eyes were settled closed, with crystals of ice on her eyelashes where tears had so recently fallen.   
“Regina.” Robin whispered, his fingers tracing over her ice-cold face. “Regina.” He shook his head, turning her face to his. “No. Please. No.”   
But she didn’t respond. Didn’t open her eyes. He wasn’t sure if she was breathing anymore.   
“Regina.” The word fell from his lips. Leaning over her, he lowered his head, pressed warm lips against her cold ones. One last kiss…that was all it was meant to be-that was all it could be. One last kiss as a final end to a relationship that had been so filled with grief among the real love the two had felt for one another but never been able to perfect.   
Blood surged through Regina’s body. It was as though every limb she had had been asleep, and now blood was returning to them. It was like the typical pins and needles sensation, but all through her body all at once.   
She sat up, gasping in air. Her right hand went to rub her left arm, kneading it in an attempt to slow the pained sensation.   
“What the hell happened?” She asked, finally raising her head to look at the others in the room. Robin’s eyes were the first with which hers locked. He was still sitting beside her, but a look of complete and total shock had his features held fast. She stared back at him, waiting for an answer to her question.   
“You’re alive.” Robin breathed as he reached for her, folding her into his arms and pressing her to his chest. “Oh God Regina. You’re alive.”   
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly because what he said was true. Somehow, someway, she was in fact alive.   
“It was you.” Gold was staring from Regina to Robin with the same blank expression. “You did it.”   
“What?” Regina asked, pulling away from Robin to look at the man standing behind him.   
“Your kiss!” Snow exclaimed. “True love’s kiss breaks any spell!” Regina’s eyes moved between Snow and Gold, who was nodding, but the blank look hadn’t left his face.   
“That’s exactly what happened.” He looked at Regina and shrugged, giving her a sudden smile. “Well, that should certainly tell you something, dearie.”   
Regina pulled back to look from the others to Robin. His face still registered shock, and amazement.   
“Wait,” he shot a quick glance over his shoulder, and then held Regina’s eyes, “then that means….”   
“That you-we’re-true love.” Regina whispered. The prophecy came flooding back to her. Pixie dust didn’t lie-and given the circumstances it apparently hadn’t.   
“Soulmates?” Robin whispered back, holding her in his arms. Regina had no idea, but shook her head yes.   
“I…guess?” Robin pulled her back to him, kissing her again. He was kissing her in a way Regina had never felt. There was so much passion. Regina had never felt it-not once in the last few months and not even in the previous year.   
“Then wait-.” Regina pulled away from him, looking around the room. She took in Snow, Charming, Emma, Hook, Gold, and two women she didn’t know. She didn’t much care who was here right now. She had one focus at the moment. “In that case, that makes Katherine the product of true love.”   
Regina noticed that Emma looked a bit disheartened. Perhaps she’d thought only she and Neal could hold that title, that it was a title reserved exclusively for the children of Snow White and Prince Charming-and now she’d have to share it with the Evil Queen’s daughter.   
But Snow got a faint smile on her face, and Gold seemed to consider before he nodded thoughtfully.   
“That’s exactly what it makes her.”   
“Then you had better take the product of true love, before she wakes up and panics that her parents have left her forever.” Snow was holding the baby out to Regina. Regina needed no prompting to pull the baby into her arms.   
“Oh my baby.” Regina breathed, burying her face into Katherine’s hair. “Oh darling. It’s ok.”   
“It’s more than ok.” Robin ducked his head to kiss Katherine’s.   
“Let’s go home.” Regina prompted him. “Let’s take her, and the boys, and go home.” Robin smiled, kissing her temple.   
“Ok.” He took Katherine as Regina detangled herself from blankets, put her shoes back on and got to her feet.   
It was dawn now, and morning sunlight was coming into the room. As expected, the blonde was the Ice Queen Elsa, who introduced the brunette as her sister Anna.   
“You managed to find her?” Regina turned to ask the question of David, because she didn’t feel like talking to Emma Swan.   
“Later, when you feel like hearing the entire story, we’ll tell you all about Bo Peep.” David sighed, glancing at Snow who gave him the same confused look as Regina. “Trust me, Bo and I have a history in the Enchanted Forest. It connected to Anna, and let me just say two curses didn’t manage to destroy it.”   
“Yeah, you’re right: I don’t want to hear the entire story right now.” Regina put Katherine into her car seat and began buckling her in. “Get Roland?” She glanced over at Robin, who squeezed her arm and nodded.  
“Wait.” Snow held up one hand. “Why don’t you two leave Henry and Roland here for the time being? I think you guys could use some time alone-just the three of you. Emm-er-one of us will bring them home later, ok?”   
Regina looked at Robin. She had her back to Emma, but she distinctly saw Robin’s eyes flick momentarily to the other woman and then back to Regina.   
“I think it’s a good idea.” Robin finally agreed. Right now, Regina wasn’t in a mood to argue.   
“All right.” She finished buckling Katherine in while Robin gathered his weapons, as well as both of their coats. Not that they were going to need coats now, as with the spell broken the summer warmth was already starting to be felt in the room.   
Picking up Katherine’s carrier, she exchanged a quick look with Emma. Emma’s eyes met hers for a second, and then they moved away as the blonde lowered her head and headed towards the kitchen.   
Gold walked into the hallway with them.   
“I have to say,” he looked at Regina, “I thought we’d lost you.”   
“You’re not the only one.” Regina looked down at Katherine.   
“Either way,” Gold gave her a faint smile, “glad to have you around a bit longer.” Regina smiled as he turned, heading down the hallway. She felt Robin’s hand on her back, rubbing gently.   
“Ready to go home?” He kissed her cheek. Regina smiled at him before turning to kiss his lips.   
“You know, now that I know your kisses will break curses, I may never stop kissing you.”   
“I like the sound of that.” Robin grinned, pulling her closer to him. Regina chuckled before kissing him again.   
“Although, you couldn’t have kissed me an hour before and saved us both a lot of grief?” Robin laughed, pressing another hard kiss to her lips.   
“Better late than never.” He grabbed her hand. “Let’s go home. You must be exhausted.”  
“I am.” Regina agreed. She felt the weariness in every part of her body now. “I just want to go home, and take a nap.”   
“Same here.” Robin stroked her chin. “So come on, let’s go.” 

***Scene****

Regina woke up wrapped in layers of blankets. She knew it was mental, but she could not get warm.   
When they’d come home, they’d fed Katherine, drank coffee and then Regina had gone upstairs to take a hot shower. She’d showered only in hot water in an effort to wipe away the last of the cold, emerging with pink tinged skin. She’d wrapped herself in gray silk pajamas before crawling into bed and falling into a deep sleep.   
Something was on the bed beside her. And since they didn’t have a pet, and the boys were undeniably still out, she had a pretty good idea of who was there.   
Rolling over, Regina found Robin lying on the bed with Katherine beside him. He smiled when he met Regina’s eyes.   
“Mama’s awake.” He rubbed Katherine’s chest gently. Regina smiled, reaching over for Katherine. Katherine smiled and cooed as Regina picked her up, held her in the air for a moment, and then lowered her to down to Regina’s chest. The baby had no idea how close she’d come to losing her mother.   
“Did she sleep?” Robin nodded.   
“She woke up around noon. She didn’t have much interest in her afternoon nap.”   
“Which means she’ll be asleep by 6, and up by 5.” Regina sighed. Robin had dressed the baby in a yellow onesie with a duck on the front, and yellow pants with orange ruffled trim. He’d even successfully gotten a white lace headband around the baby’s head. Regina was impressed.   
They were silent for a while, all three laying quietly until Robin finally spoke.   
“Should we talk?” Regina had been thinking of that.   
“Probably.” She sighed, turning onto her side and putting Katherine on the bed between them.   
“I meant what I said,” Robin lay his hand on Katherine, “I was wrong. It wasn’t right of me to automatically choose one woman and child over another. I shouldn’t have just disregarded all of our feelings for one another.”   
“When you chose, we didn’t know there was another child.” Regina soothed gently. “And I never faulted you for returning to your wife, that wasn’t the issue.” And she hadn’t. That was the truth. “That I understood. But it hurt. No amount of understanding could have undone the pain that came with losing you.”   
“I know.” Robin’s hand left Katherine to caress Regina’s cheek. “And I hated to hurt you. It’s hard to be truly happy with someone when you’re carrying guilt for hurting another. In fairness, if I’d stayed with you over Marian, I would have been just as guilty.”   
“I understand.” She did. She knew what type of a man he was. Of all things, he had his honor. She’d always known his loyalties would go to his marriage. “But she complicated everything.” Regina looked down at her daughter.   
“She was a bit of an…unexpected twist.” Robin smiled. “But I wouldn’t trade her.”   
“Neither would I.” Regina’s eyes lit up as she ducked her head to kiss her daughter. “But I meant what I said-I didn’t have a right to keep her from you. You knew she was yours, lying about that was pointless.”   
“It doesn’t make much difference.” Robin sighed, watching as Katherine rolled obliviously from one parent to the other, grabbing fingers. “At the end of the day, I went along with you, I let you do it. I didn’t fight because it was easier not to bring up the subject. It was easier to agree with you than try to explain to Marian, and to upset her….to ignore my feelings for you. I was torn between wanting my child, and wanting everything to go away so I could just live my life in peace again.”   
“You were in a bad position.” Regina looked up at him. “There was no easy choice for you.”   
“It didn’t give me a right to ignore my own child.” Robin shook his head, his face showing the disgust he was obviously feeling with himself-and had been feeling with himself. “Started out her life as a wonderful father, didn’t I?”   
“She doesn’t need to know that.” Regina murmured, stroking one of Katherine’s feet. They were cold. Robin had left off her socks. Regina’s impressed feeling of earlier went down slightly. “In all honesty, Robin, she isn’t going to remember.”   
“But we will.” Robin held her eyes. “So it’s up to us to move past it.” Regina nodded.   
“I do love you.” She reached over Katherine for his hand. “I always have.”   
“I love you too.” Robin whispered. “And twice, I’ve nearly lost you forever. And both times, it makes me want a future stronger than ever with you. Regina, I don’t want to be without you.”   
Regina was silent for a few moments, her hand wrapped around one of Katherine’s feet. Finally, she looked back at him.   
“Marian is always going to be a part of our relationship, because she’s Roland’s mother. But I don’t want that history between us hanging over our relationship. I want to move beyond it. I think last night….told a lot. In more ways than one.”   
“True love always prevails.” Robin traced his fingers through her hair. “I suppose that’s obvious now-that we are true love.”   
Regina raised her head to him.   
“In the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time regretting that I didn’t go into the tavern that night. If I had gone in that night, we never would have gone through any of this. I don’t want any more regrets when it comes to you.”   
Robin smiled, handing Katherine a rattle that had been on the bed beside him. The rattle instantly went into her mouth.  
“No, I don’t want regrets. I don’t want to worry any more about what happened, or might have happened.”   
“You know,” Regina smiled as Katherine held the rattle out to her, “Tinkerbelle told me that by not going into that tavern, I ruined not only my life, but yours as well.” Robin frowned.   
“I like Tinkerbelle well enough, but that’s a bit harsh. If I had never married Marian, I’d never have had Roland. And I can’t imagine my life without him. And, everything that happened brought you to Henry. Would you want your life without him?”   
“No.” Regina answered immediately. She meant it. The idea of not having Henry broke her heart. She would never give up him.   
“So I think things worked out the way they could have-and we found out what we needed to know when we needed to know it.”   
“I still think you could have kissed me an hour before and we would have been just as well off.” Regina grumbled. Robin laughed.   
“So we can do this? Really make it work this time? I know things were bothering you.” Regina sat up, lifting Katherine from the bed and settling her on her lap in a sitting position.   
“Obviously last night changed things for me…for us. I just…. Maybe we rushed things before.”   
“Do you want me to go?” Robin asked seriously as he sat up to face her.   
“No.” Regina answered just as seriously. She didn’t want him to leave. She wanted him here. “I like having you here with me. And Katherine needs you here with her. We just…” Regina tried to come up with words for what she was thinking. “The physical aspect…that needs to stop. For awhile, at least.”   
Robin raised an eyebrow at her.   
“You don’t like it?”   
“It’s not that.” It wasn’t. “But if I’m going to have sex with you, I need to do it because I want to, because I want to be with you. Not because….not because I’m thinking about how I’m victorious over a dead woman.”   
“Well, I’d certainly prefer that.” Robin shook his head, obviously trying to brush off what she’d said. Regina sighed heavily, trying to think of the best way to make this conversation less awkward.   
“Robin, we need intimacy, not just sex. We had intimacy before. Lately, we’ve had sex. And while it’s felt good…it’s just been…physical. We haven’t connected, not really.”   
Robin was silent for a moment, looking down at Katherine for a moment.   
“You’re not wrong.” He made a face, lowering his eyes to his hands. “There was one night I wanted you simply because I was hurting-and I was willing to use you to try and get past that.”   
Regina turned her head away, trying not to let the hurt creep through her. Her hands tightened around her daughter-their daughter.   
“The other times,” he continued, “I wanted you. Just wanted you so badly. I knew things weren’t perfect between us, but I loved you, and I thought it might connect us…might help us.”   
“It…didn’t.” Regina looked over at him. Robin frowned at the look on her face.   
He moved closer to her on the bed. His hand moved up to rest on the back of her head, rubbing gently through her hair.   
“What we need is to focus on us,” he murmured. “Find what we never really had-time just to be together.”   
“We had that before.” Regina tilted her head lightly into his caress. Robin made a face.   
“We had it a little-once we’d worked around a wicked witch.”   
“And then we lost everything.” Regina breathed, closing her eyes.   
“But we can get it back.” Robin slid his hand to her chin. “This time, for real.” Regina opened her eyes and met his. She smiled, leaning over to meet his lips. They kissed gently once, and then again. Regina pulled back first, studying his face.   
“I want to try to be us again-with my soulmate this time.” Robin sat down beside her, slipping one arm around her.   
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.” On Regina’s lap, Katherine whined, tugging on the edge of Regina’s shirt. Regina sighed.   
“Ok darling, I get it.” She unbuttoned the top button of her pajama top and settled back on the pillows, lowering Katherine to her chest. Robin watched her before lying down on the bed beside her, his fingers on the back of Katherine’s head.   
“I don’t want to be away from you, either of you, ever again.”   
“That was sort of my goal.” Regina turned her head to look over at him. She gently placed her fingers on the back of his hand. “But it’s going to be real.”   
“Undeniably.” Robin murmured, pressing a kiss to his daughter’s head without taking his eyes off Regina. 

***Scene*****

The two were settled on the bed, leaning against the pillows and cuddling Katherine-who had decided she had no interest in sleeping anymore today. Katherine cared little for the fact her parents hadn’t slept much, or that her mother had almost died, or that her parents were now trying to work on their own relationship. All she cared about was the fact that she had slept, eaten, and now wanted to play. She laughed, rolling contentedly from one parent to the other, grabbing hair and clothing.   
“I would do anything if she would take a nap right now.” Robin groaned, rubbing his eyes.   
“So would I.” Regina nodded, feeling the effects of having her sleeping schedule so badly thrown off. “Did you sleep at all today?”   
“Two hours…maybe closer to an hour and a half.”   
“After being up all night, you must be exhausted.”   
“That’s a bit of an understatement.” Robin shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it.   
“Well, let’s hope this is temporary.” Regina picked up Katherine, bouncing her gently in the air, “and not the start of her giving up her morning nap.” Robin simply let his head fall back, eyes dropping shut.   
From downstairs, the front door slammed open, causing all three to jump.   
“Mom!” Henry called, footsteps pounding on the stairs. “MOM!”   
“Papa!” Roland was a few steps behind him. Regina glanced at Robin, laughing.   
“Here!” She called, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. Henry appeared in the doorway and literally threw himself at her. Regina shifted Katherine to her other arm and hugged her son.   
“You’re ok.” He pressed his head against her shoulder. “How?”   
“You were right.” Regina smiled, stroking his hair. When Henry pulled back, confused, she glanced quickly at Robin. “True love’s kiss will break any spell.” Henry looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment and then grinned.   
“Wow!” He exclaimed. “That’s awesome!”   
“It’s definitely that.” Robin smiled, pulling Roland onto his lap.   
“Hey guys, you shouldn’t just run in like that.” Emma appeared in the doorway.   
“Mom, it’s fine.” Henry was already taking Katherine out of Regina’s arms. Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde.   
“I assure you, Miss Swan, nothing obscene was going on with our infant daughter in the room.”   
“I-. Right.” Emma paused, turned towards the doorway, and then froze like she wanted something else.   
“Yes?” Regina raised an eyebrow suspiciously.   
“Nothing.” Emma finally forced a smile. “Just let me know if you want me to come claim them again.”   
“They’re fine.” Regina assured her firmly. Beside her, Robin nodded.   
“Ok. Then I’ll be going. Henry, I’ll see you later, ok?”   
“Yeah, ok, Mom.” Henry was swinging a laughing Katherine up and over his head.   
When Emma had left, and they had heard the front door close, Robin turned to Regina.   
“Are you hungry?”   
“Yes.” She admitted. Robin got up, swing Roland onto his hip in the process. “All right boys, let’s go see what we have for dinner.”   
“I’m going to get dressed.” Regina got up. “I’ll meet you down there.”   
Henry followed them out of the room, carrying Katherine. Regina smiled as she watched them go. Right now, she was just grateful to be alive. Maybe, finally, they could make a real life and a real family.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last bit of sexual intercourse between two adults in a relationship is in this chapter. Don't like it? Find something else to read.

One Month Later-

It was the first night in a month the two had actually been out alone together. Actually, it was the first night they’d done anything alone together.   
Roland had developed a serious ear infection. At first, Regina had decided it was a one off situation that would need a quick antibiotic and be gone. One infection turned into two, and then three. Now Dr. Whale was talking about putting tubes into his ears to help drain the fluids, which both scared and confused Robin. Regina had spent most of the last three weeks explaining the procedure, letting him reading online articles about it, and generally trying to make him feel better. She wasn’t entirely sure she had been successful.   
To make matters worse, Katherine had started to cut her first tooth only a few days before. It was a month early, but not entirely a bad thing. Regina had assumed Katherine was fussy for not sleeping when Roland was constantly awake in the middle of the night, but one morning had discovered the official reason. She’d been a healthy combination of thrilled at the milestone, and horrified at the prospect of having two crying children.   
So when Snow had seen how exhausted Regina looked, she’d suggested keeping the children while Regina and Robin went out. Regina was hesitant. Robin had spent many nights recently sleeping in bed with Roland because the boy wouldn’t without him, so she wasn’t sure leaving Roland alone with someone else was really going to work.   
But Roland had been better today, and he’d been open to the idea of going to Snow and Charming’s, so Robin had gone along with it. Not that Granny’s was anything special, but they were out with nothing to worry about-at least for the moment.   
Regina noticed the first issue was that both of them had their phones on the table. She supposed it was a necessity, but it didn’t make things any more relaxing.   
The second issue was that they spent the first twenty minutes discussing the baby, and Roland, and ear infections, and medicines, and surgeries, and different teething remedies.   
“I just don’t understand how you can just be so calm about this just because this…internet says it’s ok.” Robin was grumbling for the fifteenth that week.   
“I’m not calm because the internet says it’s ok.” Regina argued. “I’m calm because it’s a simple procedure dozens of children in this town have had. And Dr. Whale has treated Henry since he was Katherine’s age. He knows what he’s doing.”   
As usual, Robin looked unconvinced.   
“What if Katherine has to have this surgery in a few years?”   
“So she has it!” Regina shrugged. “She’ll be fine too. Look, if they can cure measles, they can cure an ear infection.”   
“We didn’t have these problems in our world.” Robin continued to mutter.   
“We did. Like I said before, we just didn’t have names for them. In our world, children just claimed their ears hurt and then went deaf. We blamed witches and magic, here they know it’s an untreated infection.”   
Robin’s face wasn’t impressed.   
“Medicine in this world is…terrifying.”   
“I understand.” Regina smiled. She reached across the table and touched his hand. “But they know what they’re doing here. This world is different.” Robin still shook his head, looking unhappy. “We might as well get it done now.” Regina warned him. “Because Katherine is already early cutting teeth, so if she’s going to start getting more we need to be prepared.”   
“She would start early.” Robin sighed. He looked just as tired as Regina did, and felt.   
“Well, from what I read on the….internet….” Regina paused for Robin’s eye roll. “Children who start cutting teeth early get it from a parent who started early. So therefore one of us is obviously at fault for this.”   
“How can we know which one?” Robin asked.   
“Without a séance, we don’t.” Regina told him. “We just mark it down for the grandchildren’s reference.” Robin still looked annoyed, but kept whatever he was thinking to himself.   
Finally, the problems dawned on him.   
“We’re not doing well with this, are we?” Regina sighed at her coffee cup.   
“No, we’re not.” She glanced up at him, resting her chin in her hand.   
“Ok, first, you put your phone away.”   
“Why do I have to? Why can’t you? I at least know how to work mine.” Robin gave her a disapproving look, but finally held up his hand in surrender.   
“Ok, fine. We’ll both put our phones away. We’ll both hear-or feel-them ring if they do. We can’t enjoy tonight if we’re both sitting here staring at our phones.”   
“No, you’re right. We can’t.” Regina picked up her phone and dropped it into her purse. Robin picked his up and slipped it into his back pocket.   
“All right, phones away. Now, we need to discuss something other than our children.”   
They made small talk over town politics before switching to television, which was still fairly new to Robin but was highly embraced by Roland.   
They’d kept a low profile over the last month, going out only when they actually needed something important. Henry had pestered both to join him, the Charmings, Emma and Hook for dinner at Granny’s once a week, but both had nixed that offer. Neither Regina nor Robin was much up for socializing, and despite everything they were truly trying to focus on each other.   
Not that it had worked out exactly as planned with a sick child, and a baby who had decided that being active was far more exciting than simply lying around. She was babbling constantly, and was seriously considering crawling.  
“We’re going to have to baby proof the house-soon.” Regina said, without looking up from her salad.   
“You’re doing it again.” Robin glanced over at her. “You just switched back to the children.” Regina huffed and shook her head.   
“I’m just not good at this.”   
“Neither of us are.” Robin smiled sympathetically.   
“Maybe we just should have stayed home,” Regina stared out the window, resting her chin in her hand. “It might have been nice to be alone in the house-when it was quiet. I could have read a book.” Robin nodded.   
“I could have taken a nap.”   
“That too.” Regina agreed. Robin leaned across the table, closer to her.   
“Afterwards, when we went to pick up the children, you could have told me about that book and I could told you about that nap.” Regina laughed.   
“True.” Robin kissed her quickly and moved back to his own side.   
“Well, maybe if the Charmings are not ready to rip their hair out over our children, we can convince them to try this again next week.”  
“I keep telling you,” Granny put their plates on the table in front of them, “Ruby and I will watch those two any time.”   
“I appreciate that.” Regina pulled her entrée in front of her. “But at this time, you don’t know exactly what you’re taking on.”   
“Trust me,” Granny assured her, “if I can raise Ruby, a sick little boy and a teething baby are nothing.”   
Robin and Regina both laughed as she left them alone. There weren’t many people in the diner tonight. Regina let conversation slid in favor of eating. She was only a few bites into her dinner when Robin sighed heavily.   
“What?” Regina glanced up at him.   
“One of the benefits of staying in tonight is that we would have been alone.” His eyes were on the door. Regina looked in the direction to see Emma crossing the diner to them.   
Normally she would have followed his annoyance, but her immediate reaction was that something was wrong with the children.   
“Did your parents send you? Are the children ok?” A hundred thoughts were going through her head: Roland not taking medicine, Katherine crying uncontrollably, there were so many possibilities.   
“No, no. The kids are fine as far as I know-haven’t talked to my parents. I just wanted to talk to you two…alone. Without the kids around.”   
Regina opened her mouth to say something, but Robin cut her off.   
“Miss Swan, I’m sure whatever it is you have to tell us is important. But tonight is the first night that Regina and I have been out-alone-in….” He shrugged. “Well, I’m not entirely sure when. So you’ll forgive me if I say that I doubt either of us wants to hear it tonight.”   
Emma looked momentarily taken back. Regina had to press her hand over her mouth to cover the smug smile that had crept over it. She expected the Savior to insist on saying whatever it was, but instead she merely took a step back, nodding.   
“I-. Ok. Um sorry. I just wanted to say….well…” She took another step backwards. “I just wanted to say that I’m happy for you two. Really.”   
“Thank you, Miss Swan.” Regina nodded, glancing behind her at the door. Emma gave them both an awkward smile before turning and heading to the door.   
It wasn’t until she left the Regina looked up at Robin, her smile spreading across her face.   
“You are the only one in this town who has understood me about how dislikeable she is.” Robin shook his head, his eyes still on the door.   
“It’s not that I dislike Emma Swan. As a matter of fact, I don’t. I don’t think that she tries to be as difficult as she actually can be. However, I do not like the fact that she has a tendency to decide when and how things are done. And tonight is our night-and I was not going to have it ruined by the fact that she decided tonight was the night she needed to make a statement.”   
Regina smiled, and this time it was her turn to lean in to kiss him. For a while, they went back to their dinner in silence.   
“I have to say,” Regina finally spoke, “it’s nice to eat in peace.”   
“You mean without crying, whining or having to hold a small child? I’m inclined to agree.”   
They had found that they made a good team. Measles had taught them that for sure. They were good parents separately, but they were better parents together. It was being a couple they’d found they weren’t great at, hence tonight. It was hard to be particularly romantic with the children around. Regina wasn’t entirely sure how they’d managed to bond so closely before. She figured it probably had to do without having an infant in their lives.   
“We have to do this more often.” Regina told him. “We have to make that promise to each other.”  
“Agreed.” Robin reached across the table, clasping her hand into his.  
She’d kept her vow that things wouldn’t get physical between them. That had been hard sometimes. On two occasions it had been particularly hard.   
They’d been cuddled into bed, which was mostly an every night occasion. Sometimes, before falling asleep was the only time they could guarantee quiet and togetherness.   
Regina felt like a teenage girl, teasing her boyfriend. Every night she and Robin slept in the same bed. Every night he reached out and held her, but they never touched other than a few kisses. It was about building the intimacy. You had to be able to sleep beside someone instead of just having sex with them.   
Robin was placing long, sweet kisses against her lips. His hand was gently stroking her hip. Every now and then it would slip up to her side and stroke there before sliding back down.   
Something in her kisses must have encouraged him. His hand slipped up to stroke her breast through the silk of her pajama top.   
Regina instantly broke the kiss, moving her hand from his arm to push the hand away. Robin smiled faintly at her.   
“Too much?”   
“Too much.” Regina nodded. Robin raised his hand to stroke her cheek.   
“I’m sorry.”   
“It’s ok.” Regina murmured, laying her hand over his.   
“I will not push you.” Regina knew he meant it, and she appreciated that he respected the boundaries she’d put up. Slowly, she leaned in and lay her forehead against his, settling as they went to sleep.

The second time had been different entirely. 

It hadn’t been a week ago. Regina had been lounging on the den sofa, drinking a glass of wine and skimming through the DVR recordings. If it was one thing Robin had discovered he enjoyed in this world, it was Law and Order and DVR.   
He joined her, fresh from tucking Katherine back in and glancing in on Roland. He lay down on the sofa beside her, nuzzling his face into her throat. Regina smiled and pulled him closer, clicking play on the remote control.   
She finished her wine, and they watched precisely another ten minutes of the episode before the kissing started. This was far more passionate than their normal bouts of kissing. Tonight the kisses had been more urgent.   
It wasn’t long before Robin’s hand slid over her breast. Regina settled onto her back, pulling him onto her. Robin broke the kiss quickly.   
“Yes?” He asked.   
“Yes.” She was ready. Tonight, she wanted him. For sure. There was no need to hold back. She’d put this off long enough.  
Robin wasted little time unbuttoning her blouse. She watched the lust rise in his eyes. It had been so long…at least it felt like it.   
He pushed her bra up, groaning softly at the sight of her breasts. Instantly, his mouth fell onto her left nipple. Regina’s hands slipped up behind his head, held him tightly against her.   
“Yes.” She whispered, letting her head fall backwards. Robin’s tongue swirled against the delicate tissue. He raised his head and met her eyes. Instantly, his lips were on hers, his tongue pushing roughly into her mouth.   
“I want you so badly.” He breathed, pulling her into a sitting position to begin removing her blouse entirely.   
“PAPA!” The wail came from upstairs, followed immediately by the tears they were both so accustomed to by now.   
Robin’s forehead fell against hers. He took a deep, ragged breath.   
“We have to-.”   
“Yes.” Regina confirmed, pulling back from him. “Go.”   
With a quick nod, Robin got up, took another deep breath, and headed out of the room. Regina sat on the couch for a moment, attempting to calm her pounding heart.   
Maybe they’d resume this later, there was still hope after all. But Roland had woken up whiney. He’d clung to his father, wanting book after book read to him and story after story told to him. It was almost two when Robin had finally come to bed, and by then Regina had little interest in being disturbed.  
“Penny for your thoughts, your Majesty?” Robin was looking at her curiously. Regina realized she’d slipping into her own thoughts, losing herself in the idea that was playing with her.   
“Just thinking that we didn’t say exactly what time we’d pick up the children.”   
“No, we didn’t.” Robin continued to watch her curiously. “What are you thinking?”   
“Just that,” Regina ran her tongue over her lips, “we have time to go home for a little while before we pick them up….”   
For a moment, Robin looked confused by her statement. Then his lips parted in a soft “ah”.   
“Are you thinking….” Regina nodded.   
“I think this would be a lovely end to a quiet evening.”   
“Are you sure?”   
“Yes.” Regina met his eyes firmly. 

***Scene***

They finished dinner without much conversation. They’d both lost their focus to other matters.   
They left the diner, fingers entwined. Robin checked both of their phones for alerts about the children as Regina drove them home. There were none.  
Once at home, Regina took his hand and led him to the front door. She unlocked it, giving him a long, sultry look as she stepped inside. Robin followed, quickly closing and locking the door behind them.   
When he turned back to her, Regina’s lips were immediately on his. He kissed her long and tenderly. Regina’s hands slid slowly up to his shoulders before dragging her nails down his chest.   
“Let’s go upstairs.” Robin whispered gently, catching her hands in his.   
They could actually leave the bedroom door open. Robin pulled her back against him as he unzipped her dress. Slowly he slid it off of her shoulders, down her body. Regina stepped out of it, before turning to face him. She was left only in dark blue lacy lingerie. She watched his eyes take in her body. He shook his head before leaning in to kiss her again.   
She unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing, pushing it off. Robin shrugged it off with no hesitation. Regina’s fingers reached for the front of his pants, but his stopped hers. He scooped her into his arms and laid her down on the bed.   
Her dark eyes took in his form, and she felt like she was seeing him for the first time. Was this what their first time should have been like? Or was this a new first time for a new start?   
Robin’s hands began roaming her body as his lips kissed her throat. Slowly, he lifted her from the bed long enough to unhook her bra. He pulled it down her arms, tossing it aside. He nipped lightly at her collarbone before finding his way down to her breasts. Regina’s eyes closed at the feeling of his hot mouth against her nipple. She whined as his hands stroked whichever breast his mouth wasn’t working over.   
His lips left her nipples. Slowly, he kissed down her stomach, licking her hipbones before pressing a hard kiss against her pelvic bone. He pulled away, meeting her eyes before his fingers linked under the waistband of her underwear. He pulled them down, dragging them down her thighs until he could pull them off of her feet.  
“Robin…” She murmured softly.   
He slid between her thighs. His fingers spread her open before his tongue traced a path along the opening of her sex. Regina moaned, arching her hips into him. He’d never done this before. It had been ages since anyone had-and this felt so good.  
Robin’s lips sealed around her clit. He sucked, pressing his tongue against her. He pushed two fingers gently into her, curling them inside of her. Regina’s head fell back on the bed as she panted at the sensations he was creating inside of her.   
“Oh yes….” She whispered. His fingers were hitting the exact spot inside of her that drove her crazy.   
The sensations built and built inside of her. The pressure was near to driving her crazy when the explosions went off in her body, sending her over the edge with a cry.   
Robin kept licking and sucking through her climax. Finally, he lifted his head and slid up her body.   
“Was that ok?”   
Regina’s response was to pull his lips to hers, to kiss him and taste the last of her climax on his lips. Her hands slid down, began working his pants open. He moved back from her, sitting up to take them and his boxers completely off.   
She’d seen and touched him before. But tonight was so different. Regina hadn’t felt anything like this with him…not since….   
Her hand wrapped around his erection, stroking and squeezing gently. He let her for a moment before pulling away. He settled between her thighs, nudging them wide apart with his. He positioned himself at her entrance, watching her face. Regina waited, giving him a moment before she rubbed gently against him.   
Robin took the hint and pushed into her. Regina closed her eyes, taking in the sensation of him entering her. This was different. The last few times between them had been sex. This was like the first time. This was making love.   
Robin groaned when he was all the way in to her.   
“Hell, Regina….”   
She pushed her hips against him, encouraging him to move. He wasted no time thrusting into her, finding a pace to set them moving towards the edge. She was already sensitive, and every drag of his hardness against her pushed her closer and closer.   
She was clinging to him, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck. Every now and then, her lips met his. Regina’s eyes were closed but she could hear the soft cries he was making against her ear.   
The second orgasm rushed over her, causing her to cry out. It took him only a few more thrusts before he followed, moaning against her throat as he did.   
Robin lifted himself to press his forehead against hers. He pressed a light kiss to her lips before pulling out slowly.   
“That was….” He breathed, lying down beside her.   
“Incredible.” Regina murmured, rolling onto her side to wrap one arm around him. Robin pulled her to him, snuggling her into his chest.   
“So you felt it too.”   
“Yes.” Regina answered against him. This was the intimacy she’d been wanting, this is what they’d been lacking. This is what they had been building up to.   
“I’m not arguing.” Robin stroked her hair. “I love you, Regina.”   
“I love you too.” She whispered back.   
They lay in each other’s arms for a long time, caressing and kissing each other in the darkness. The air conditioning kicked on. It hummed softly through the house. It was nice to be alone in the quiet. Regina had no idea how long it had been since they’d been alone in the house. Maybe not sine that first time-probably not since that first time.   
The quiet was interrupted by the sound of a phone vibrating. Robin sat up, rummaging on the floor until he found his pants.   
“Hello?” He put the phone to his ear as he lay back down beside Regina.   
“Robin hi.” Snow’s voice could be heard. “I’m sorry to call you at all, but I tried Regina and didn’t get an answer.   
“My phone’s in my purse.” Regina murmured, laying her head on Robin’s chest.   
“Her phone’s in her purse.” Robin relayed. “What’s going on?”   
“I’m really sorry to call, but Roland’s getting really cranky, and Katherine’s ready to go to bed.”   
“Say no more.” Robin sat up. “We’re on our way.”   
“Ok. Thanks. Again, I’m sorry.”   
“No, no problem. We’ll see you soon.” Robin hung up the phone and moved off of the bed. “Duty calls.”   
“That it does.” Regina got up and began retrieving her clothes. The moment was over and broken, but it was ok. It had been perfect while it lasted. 

***Scene***

Snow had been right. Katherine was ready to go to bed. She’d fallen asleep in the car on the way home and didn’t stir when Regina carried her upstairs.   
For a few moments, Regina simply wandered the room, holding the baby. From down the hall, she could hear Robin talking to Roland as he tucked the boy into bed.   
“All right, love.” Regina laid Katherine in her crib, drawing a blanket over her. “Sleep tight, darling.”   
She was still leaning over the crib, watching Katherine sleep when she felt Robin’s arms around her waist.   
“Looks like she’s out cold.” Robin murmured into her ear. “We kept her up late.”   
“That’s all right. Maybe she’ll sleep later in the morning.” Regina leaned back against him, pressing against his hard chest.   
“Then let’s go to bed as well.” Robin kissed her check. “I know you’re tired.”   
She was, she couldn’t argue that. Regina turned, kissing him lightly.   
“Are you coming?”   
“Of course.” Robin smiled.  
Regina took his hand and led him back to their bedroom. Soon she was curled sleepily into his arms, already dozing off. They’d come so far…and survived. For once, Regina couldn’t wait to see what the future brought along.


	28. Epilogue

January:

“Should have put a darker color on her.” Granny was standing in front of Katherine, her arms folded over her chest. “That pink dress isn’t going to be pretty for long.”   
“A darker color?” Snow turned to the older woman. “When did you last see Katherine in a dark color?”   
“Wasn’t she a cat for Halloween?”   
“That was different.” Regina grumbled from where she stood beside Snow. “And we can always change her clothes before her cake. Besides, every little girl needs a pink party dress for her birthday.”   
Katherine looked warily at her mother from where she sat in her high chair. She nervously clung to the ears of a crocheted white rabbit Granny had just given her. She did look adorable. She was dressed in a pale pink, sleeveless party dress with a pink satin sash across the middle. It was covered with a tiny white cable knit cardigan with delicate pearl buttons. She wore white tights, shiny black paten leather Mary Janes and had a white satin headband with a white bow on it around her head. At the moment, she looked less than thrilled with this attention.   
“Well,” Snow leaned down to kiss Katherine, “your mother and I haven’t agreed on much, but I definitely agree with her on that one. And you look beautiful.”   
Katherine turned her big blue eyes to her mother, appearing to be considering tears.   
Regina turned as she felt Robin’s arm around her waist. He kissed the side of her head before frowning at Katherine. Katherine locked eyes on her father and immediately let out a cry that didn’t quite include tears while reaching up for him.   
“What’s that, darling?” Robin leaned down to his daughter, pressing his forehead against hers. “Your mother and her friends are scaring you? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”   
He reached down and unsnapped her from the high chair. Gently, he lifted her out of the chair. Katherine clung to his shirt with one hand and her rabbit with the other. She gave her mother another unhappy look before burying her face into Robin’s shoulder. With that, Robin took off across the diner with her to the back corner where most of his men were conversing.   
The party had been his idea. Regina had had absolutely no interest in having the event. As Katherine’s first birthday approached, Regina was content with a small evening at home: just the two of them, the boys and Katherine. She didn’t support giving the baby cake; she didn’t want a town of people who had never liked her showing up just to fuss over the baby. Regina had a hundred arguments why this was a terrible idea.   
But Robin had persuaded, and talked to others in town-who had in turn began attempting to convince Regina that this was a wonderful idea. First it was Snow, then Granny, then Ruby, until half of the town was casually mentioning to Regina why Katherine needed a huge first birthday party.   
“She won’t even remember.” Regina had argued. “Why should we throw her a big party now?”   
“But we’ll remember.” Robin had argued back. “We should remember this.”   
And that was the night Regina had realized what he was trying to do. By making a fuss over Katherine’s first birthday, he was making up for the fact that he hadn’t been there the day she was born-or that he’d missed so many other first milestones. That was also the night Regina’s argument stopped and she agreed to the party.   
Now Regina watched as Robin handed Katherine off to Little John. She laughed as he swung her into the air. She felt a pang of jealousy that Katherine had been so anxious to get away from her, but was thrilled to be with her father’s friends.   
“Don’t take it too harshly.” Snow whispered in her ear. “This is very overwhelming for a little girl.”   
She headed off to take Neal from David. Regina took it upon herself to socialize with a few more people. It wasn’t long though before she felt a hand on her arm. She turned and met Robin’s eyes. He smiled.   
“Come on.” He pulled her to the counter. There, he ordered two drinks. “It’s our party, we should enjoy it too.”   
“It’s her party, and we should be socializing.” Regina nodded to Katherine, who was still in the arms of Robin’s Merry Men.  
“We need a break.” Robin handed her a drink. He took a sip of his. Regina sipped her own.   
“How do you think it’s going?” Regina surveyed the crowd of people. Roland was running from group to group, beaming and reaching for all the candy he could. Henry was with Snow and Charming, currently holding Neal on his lap.   
“Well, everyone seems to be happy enough.” Robin smiled. “But what isn’t to love about an adorable little girl’s birthday?”   
“Why don’t you ask the little girl in question?” Regina looked at her daughter.   
“She seems to be enjoying herself-when you aren’t standing over her staring at her clothing.” Robin leaned his head against hers. Regina frowned at him but it was true. At this point, Katherine did look happy. Little John was bouncing her in one arm while he bounced the rabbit around in front of her in his free hand.   
Robin kissed her cheek as Regina’s eyes went to the door. Emma and Killian had just entered. Killian was carrying a pink wrapped gift. Robin glanced at the look on Regina’s face. He slipped an arm around her, pulling her against him.   
“You know we had to invite her.”   
“I know.” Regina took a long sip of her drink. “But every time I’m in Granny’s with you-and Emma Swan-I dread the future.”   
“Nothing is going to happen.” Robin murmured against her ear. “Now relax and keep enjoying the party.”   
“Mom!” Henry had run over to greet Emma. Regina ignored the conversation as he pointed the other couple towards Regina and Robin. As they approached, Regina forced herself to put on her most polite smile. She did not want to spend her daughter’s birthday fighting.   
Emma gave Robin and Regina a smile that seemed to carry a bit of discomfort with it. Regina couldn’t blame her. Things were better between the three, but not perfect. The year’s long awkwardness had never fully subsided.   
“So looks like a great party.” She turned away to motion around the room. “I guess not many people get crazy at a one year-old’s party though, huh?”   
“Well,” Robin shrugged, “in this town you never know.”   
“That is unfortunately true.” Killian was watching both Robin and Regina. It seemed both men were make sure they’d kept their companions on hand.   
“Hey,” Snow appeared in the group. “You two need to not being hiding from your own party.” She cast a scolding look between Regina and Robin while laying her hand on Emma’s arm.  
“We’re not hiding.” Regina informed her.   
“We’re drinking.” Robin held up his glass. “And that’s different.”   
“Well, you two can drink later. Right now, go.” Snow grabbed Regina’s hand, tugging her towards the cloud.   
“Let’s go.” Regina swallowed the last of her drink and took Robin’s hand. “I want my daughter back.”   
Robin followed behind her as Regina joined Henry and Grace. Henry had taken Katherine from Little John. To Regina’s delight, Katherine held out her arms to her mother.  
“Come here my baby.” Regina brought the little girl to her chest.   
“Seems like she’s having fun.” Henry grinned.   
“Yes it does, doesn’t it?” Robin kept one arm around Regina and one hand on Katherine’s back. Regina glanced between the three, smiling. She would have reflected on this moment, reflected on how much she’d found, but this was not the time. There was entirely too much to do. And for the first time, it was true happiness. 

********Scene******

“So are we going to do this like Christmas?”   
“I imagine it will go roughly the same.”   
Robin and Regina were seated on the living room floor, both leaning back against the couch. Katherine’s birthday presents were settled on the coffee table and on the floor around them.   
Katherine herself had traded her party dress for purple pajamas. She’d fallen asleep in the car on the way home. There’d been no stirring from her when she’d been carried up to her crib. She’d slept quite contentedly until about an hour ago, when she’d woken up ready for another round of playtime.   
“She’s going to rip the paper from one present, and lose interest.” Robin looked at Regina.   
“Oh, I know that.” Regina watched her daughter thoughtfully. “But it’s the effect. She has to at least try to open her birthday presents.”   
Robin shook his head, reaching for a box. He handed it to Regina.   
“Katherine!” Regina held out the box to her daughter. “Come here, darling. Do you want to open your birthday gifts?”   
While she had no idea what her mother wanted, Katherine knew the tone. She immediately looked up from the toy she’d been playing with near the fireplace. She crawled the few feet to her parents. Both watched as she moved onto her knees, and then slowly pulled herself up on the edge of the coffee table. She stood for a few moments, looking at Robin and Regina proudly.   
“Very good, darling.” Regina put the gift into her lap before holding out her arms. “Can you come here?”   
Katherine had not mastered walking, but she was getting there. However, she had a sense of optimism that made her decide she could do it. At least once a day, she made a determined attempt to walk a long distance. She failed after only a few steps, but she never cried.   
She let go of the edge of the table, teetering the few steps towards Regina. She moved cautiously towards her mother’s arms, falling into Regina’s grasp.   
Regina smiled, lifting her daughter into her arms.   
“You’re very close.” Robin leaned into kiss his daughter. “Not much longer now and you’ll have the run of this house.”   
“And that means we’ll need to baby proof it.” Regina glanced over at Robin.   
“Which will be no problem.” Robin was still nuzzling Katherine’s forehead.   
“All right,” Regina shifted Katherine, “let’s get started with this so we’re not up all night.”   
“Fine.” Robin reached for the note pad and pen that were lying beside him. He had been designated to write down which gift had come from whom. “We are not letting her open every one. We will be here all night.”   
“Please. If her interest lasts longer than this one, I’ll be impressed.” Regina held the box up to Katherine. She ripped a corner of the paper before offering the box to Katherine. Katherine yanked the paper, not caring what it uncovered. She crumpled the paper in both hands. She watched it, fascinated.   
“What’s in the box?” Robin asked, already sounding exhausted. Regina ripped the rest of the paper off. She let Katherine take it as she examined the box.   
“It’s some sort of ball with shapes cut out in.” Regina read the packaging. “Supposedly teaches them their shapes.”   
“Very nice. Who’s it from?” Regina grabbed the card that had fallen to the floor.   
“Dr. Hopper. What a surprise.” Robin said nothing, he merely wrote the name down.   
“What, exactly, do we call that thing?”  
“I don’t know. Just call it ‘ball with shapes’. I’m sure we won’t forget.” Regina put the package aside. Katherine settled onto her lap, calmly shredding wrapping paper.   
They opened more packages containing dresses, toys and books. Katherine reached for a Raggedy Anne doll as soon as it was out of the paper. She sat on the floor, staring down at the doll.   
“She probably thinks it’s as scary as I do.” Robin frowned. “I think I want that thing out of the house.”   
“She likes it.” Regina smiled as Katherine glanced from the doll up to them. “So far, it’s the only thing she’s expressed interest in. Aside from the paper of course.”   
“Wonderful.” Robin grumbled.   
They opened a few more gifts before Katherine began to whine. Regina tried interesting her with a puppy covered in flashing lights, but she merely pitched her doll to the floor. Regina scooped her into her arms. Katherine did nothing but bury her face into her mother’s shoulder, making sure to grab a handful of hair as she did.   
“All right,” Regina moved to stand. “Bedtime?”   
“The boys are going to have to turn that video game down.” Robin glanced up the stairs. “She’ll never sleep with that music.”   
“Roland should think about going to bed too.” Regina picked up Katherine’s doll. “Maybe get him a bath?”   
“He’ll fight it. I think he’s exhausted from all the excitement today.” Robin pushed himself to his feet and followed Regina upstairs.   
They tucked Katherine and Roland into bed. Henry kept playing video games. On a Saturday night, that was no harm-so long as the volume stayed low.   
Back downstairs, Regina and Robin finished opening and documenting the rest of the gifts. It was much faster without a baby helping them.   
“She officially has more than she’ll ever need.” Robin surveyed the gifts. “Actually, she has more than any child will ever need.”  
“That’s for sure.” Regina squeezed the stomach of a teddy bear that still sat in its box. The bear made a cooing, giggling noise as lights flashed over it. Robin shook his head.   
“These toys are terrifying. Why on earth has this land decided everything needs to blare lights and make….unearthly….noises?”   
“Let’s clean up the last of the paper and have a drink.” Regina put the bear on the coffee table. Robin did not argue as he crumpled a wad of paper.   
“A drink sounds incredibly enticing after these toys.”   
When the wrapping paper was in the garbage, Regina brought a bottle of wine with two glasses into the room.   
“Damn it.” She frowned as she put the items down.   
“What?” Robin looked lazily over at her from his place on the floor. Regina handed him a glass as she nodded to the table.   
“A gift we forgot,” she nodded to the small pink wrapped box on the table.   
“We didn’t forget.” Robin shook his head. “That’s not for Katherine.” When Regina looked at him curiously, he motioned to it. “Go ahead, open it.”   
Curiously, Regina set down the remaining glass and bottle. She carefully unwrapped the pink paper. A small, black velvet jewelry box now lay in her palm.   
“Robin….”  
“Open it.” He pressed gently. “Go on.”   
Regina did. A diamond ring glittered up at her. She gasped, barely noticing that Robin had reached out to take her hand.   
“Is this-?” She asked. “I mean, do you want to-?”   
“Yes.” Robin pulled her to stand in front of him. He removed the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. Regina could only stare open mouthed as Robin gazed up at her. This had been the absolute last thing she’d been expecting tonight. Or ever.   
“Marry me, Regina. I cannot imagine a minute in this life without you beside me. I want it-I want us-to be official. I want to raise our family, and grow old together, and never be apart from you.”   
Regina raised her right hand to wipe a tear from her eye. How exactly did one respond to the most shocking-and wonderful-surprise they’d ever received?  
“Yes.” She whispered. “Yes.”   
He stood up, pulled her to him and kissed her. Regina’s arms wrapped around his neck as she held him tightly to her.   
They’d been through so much together. But the worst was passed, and even if bad things did come again, they were together. And there was nothing they couldn’t handle together. They’d proven that over and over again.  
“I love you.” Robin breathed against her lips.   
“I love you too.” Regina whispered. Katherine was going to grow up with her mother and her father. Henry and Roland would have a complete family.   
“Is this finally a happy ending?” She linked her fingers through his.   
“Yes,” Robin laid his forehead against hers, “this is finally our long foretold happy ending.”   
He kissed her again. And finally, for once in her life, Regina believed it.


End file.
